Bardock's Future
by Runeb19
Summary: A 'what if' story where Bardock correctly interprets his vision with Frieza as one of his defeat, and decides against attempting to warn the other Saiyans, choosing instead to seek out his son. Begins at the second Tenkaichi Budokai Goku and friends enter, at the beginning of the Demon King Piccolo Ark. Primarily told from Bardock's perspective.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Reflection, and hope.**

 **So, I probably should have realized this was the plot for 'literally every story involving Bardock ever' when I started, but I'm just gonna go ahead and keep writing it anyway.**

It had taken years. If Bardock had made any move openly, had gone after any sizable outpost, any center that definitely _would_ have had the information he needed, he would've been, at best, captured on video. If Freeza or his top advisers knew he was alive, they would never allow him to stay free. Or alive, for that matter. Therefore, he had been forced to attack only small outposts, ones he could raid and destroy fast enough that all traces of him would be long gone before any authority arrived. He'd been forced to piece-meal the information together, getting a hint here, the location of an outpost with better information there. It had taken him two years to just narrow the star cluster Kakarot had been sent to. It would've taken far too long to check the entire area, especially as it was off the beaten path-he wouldn't have been able to guarantee fuel for his pod. Still, it had helped direct him to which stations he should look into.

He had spent the decade in solitude. Saiyans were rather infamous throughout the universe, easily recognizable, and no one would feel bad for reporting him to Freeza's men. It had hardly been surprising. He got enough food and water at the outposts he took, though it was never particularly good. It had been a boring, repetitive, and wholly uneventful decade. He'd been forced to avoid anyone who was capable of giving him a challenge, for fear of discovery. He also doubted there would be anyone of any kind of power on Kakarot's world, if there was anyone but his son left on it in the first place. (The planet had been said to have a large moon, after all.)

Still, once he began seriously training Kakarot, he'd be able to satisfy his need for fighting. Or he would go crazy and possibly do some serious damage to his son. He was sure the kid would be tough enough to live through it at that point. Hopefully. Making decisions with his head was difficult-Saiyans were built to fight, thirsted for a good challenge, and rational thought didn't generally have a hand in most decisions. It was why they had started working with Freeza in the first place. He had offered them a challenge. _"Conquer entire planets with limited numbers. Fight to your heart's desire, and let me take care of all the brainy bits. At the end, you get paid."_

It had been a far too alluring offer. Saiyans were so rarely anything but fighters. Freeza had offered them endless fights, to prove themselves, to get stronger, and live well if they did enough. Anyone had the opportunity to advance. The Saiyan ability of growing in strength after a bad defeat meant that enough battles could allow anyone to someday join the elite. He had done it, after all. Never officially, of course, but he had been one of the strongest Saiyans before Freeza had wiped them out.

Freeza. He had found the report in the first outpost he had attacked. 'Planet Vegeta hit by large, unexpected meteorite. All but a handful of survivors destroyed." Bullshit. He wondered if any of the other survivors believed the lie. He supposed it wouldn't matter if they did or not, they would certainly _pretend_ to. Freeza did not tolerate insubordination. But the lie meant one very important thing. Freeza had the power to destroy the planet of a powerful warrior race utterly, in such a short time no one even knew it had happened until it was over.

He had almost tried to stop him, too. If he hadn't realized the soldiers in the background of that vision were Freeza's men, instead of fellow Saiyans, he would've believed the Saiyans would've listened to him. Surely, the entire race together would've been able to topple the tyrant. He had also thought what he had been holding had been the orb the elite had used to make artificial moons. He had thought that he had been taught to do it, and that the whole race would've been changed. Then, truly, they might've won. But his ship had malfunctioned. It had taken a day to fix-he hadn't been the one in the unit with ship expertise-and in that time he had thought on the vision. And in that time, he had received a second one. A young man who looked like him had been facing down with Freeza on a planet he didn't know. After a moment, he had realized the man must have been his son, Kakarot. Fully grown. And if he had been facing Freeza fully grown, then that meant Freeza had lived. The two visions combined helped him realize that he wouldn't have been able to defeat Freeza -but Kakarot would be able to. Bardock wouldn't have faced the tyrant. He would only have died in futility. So Bardock had decided instead to search for his son, who supposedly would one day face Freeza as an equal.

After deciding that, he had immediately blacked out. Later he found that he had been unconscious for two days, and had suffered from splitting headaches ever since. It had been years before he puzzled it out. He had changed the future. The people they had attacked had visions, yes, but had not used them to their advantage. He knew the visions were vague-as he had had one of his own death, thinking it his victory-and that they might not have understood exactly what was going to happen to them, but now he wondered if they had simply never interfered with their own visions. To do so, if done correctly, changes the future, as he had done. He had never received another vision. Apparently, he was only allowed to change the future once, and in return he was given the damn headaches.

He had wondered, from time to time, if he shouldn't just give up and leave Kakarot be. What he had done hadn't affected his son's future yet-and he was supposed to be able to challenge Freeza when it was over. The future was different, yes, but he wasn't so foolish to think the change was all that significant as of yet. Freeza believed him dead-none of his actions had changed simply because he hadn't been challenged before destroying Planet Vegeta. If Bardock died, or never interfered, Kakarot's life would run the same course it would if he had never changed the future. Eventually, Kakarot would kill Freeza. And yet…

He wasn't sure. What if something else HAD changed? Or would, if he just stepped back, or threw himself in the line of fire? Besides, Kakarot might need a way off the planet he had been sent to. He doubted Freeza-or anyone, for that matter- remembered the boy. Prince Vegeta had been making a name for himself as one of Freeza's prime fighters, and likely didn't know Kakarot existed. Or, he suspected, would care even if he did. He didn't know the names of the other two Saiyans the Prince traveled with, but Kakarot wouldn't be of any more concern to them. And Bardock would not abandon his son. Strangely, despite never paying much attention to Raditz when he was a child, Bardock felt far more responsibility toward his youngest. Perhaps it was that his life this past decade had been focused on finding the boy, or maybe it was the guilt over leaving Raditz to die, but he swore he would not let his last son down.

Bardock wasn't a fool. If he had tried to rescue Raditz, he would've died. Once he was on Planet Vegeta, there would be no way off again. Freeza had wasted no time once every Saiyan but his handpicked 3 were either dead or on the planet. The 'accident' had happened right after that bastard Dodoria had wiped out Bardock's squad. He knew he had done the right thing.

But when did that ever matter? He had abandoned one son to save the other, and the guilt of that would never be erased. But he had committed himself to this course of action, and he would not back down. Whether or not Kakarot would be able to beat Freeza if Bardock left him alone didn't matter anymore. He had never been a father. No Saiyan had ever had much of an emotional investment in their children-or in general. If he had realized one thing about his race it was how limited their normal range of emotions were. Clearly, he-and the rest of them by extension-were capable of it, but they never had bothered on Vegeta, He'd had reasons, justifications, but the fact was that Bardock had a son for years and never so much as looked at him if there was anything else he could be doing. Raditz would probably hate him if he were alive.

But he might yet have a chance to redeem himself, at least slightly. He had the location of Kakarot's planet. It had been buried in an old archive, untouched until Bardock came along. Nobody knew about it. It would take a year, maybe more, but he would find his son. He would find him and make him into a warrior capable of taking on the tyrant that had wiped out almost their entire race. Bardock was stronger now. He might have avoided real threats during his search, but he had trained, and been forced to fight smart to take those outposts quickly and quietly. He was certain he'd be able to crush Dodoria now. He could probably take out Zarbon. But Freeza and his family? Beyond him. The Ginyu Force? He doubted it. So he would find his son, train him, and together they would grow strong enough that they would be able to take on that tyrant. Together, they would get revenge.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Earth's Tournament**

 **Because this story is Bardock-centric, these first few chapters are set in the role of the observer. I've assumed anyone reading this already knows the events of Dragon Ball, so I'm not re-writing the entire story. The fights do get mostly skipped over. The tournament in the manga starts around~chapter 120, if you're looking to get caught up.**

The reports of a strange meteor landing on Earth never made it to headline news. It was barely covered, as it had landed away from any human settlement. Everyone, every news crew, every journalist, anyone who reported anything was as close as they could get to the Budokai Tenkaichi tournament. After last year's unexpected and amazing finale, everyone knew the next one would have to be bigger and better. After footage had aired of the battles, it had rapidly become the world's favorite upcoming event.

Thus, Bardock's landing went almost unnoticed. He stepped out of the pod and looked around. It was a pretty enough planet, he supposed. It would've sold well, if it hadn't been forgotten. He reached up and activated his scouter. He had taken it from the last outpost he had hit before coming here, so it was up to date. Kakarot's power should be easy to pick out. The scouter started up and Bardock saw…population. Hundreds of people in every direction, most with pathetic 1's or 2's, a 5 here or there.

 _What the hell!?_ Kakarot had had over a decade here, with a monthly full moon. And yet from what he could tell, the population hadn't even been affected. There hadn't been ruins or any significant signs of battle visible from orbit, and Bardock had assumed that had been because there hadn't been much resistance from the locals. Now, though, it looked like there hadn't been fighting _at all._

His scouter pinged on a clustered group of power levels. There was a good half dozen, all ranging in the hundreds. Not a challenge for Bardock, sure, but his son had only been born with a power level of 2. There was no stand out power level anywhere else on the surface of the planet. _Is Kakarot fighting right now?_ There were a few power levels higher than the rest, but even the strongest one there would certainly lose if all the others fought him. And it was daytime too, not that he knew if it would be a full moon tonight or not.

He didn't want to consider the other possibility-that if people that strong had been on this planet the whole time, there was no guarantee Kakarot would've been able to fight them.

"Dammit!" He swore, as the second possibility began to make more and more sense. An Oozaru would be able to crush those power levels, surely, but after an ongoing siege lasting for years, figuring out that an Oozaru only appears during a full moon wouldn't have been difficult.

Bardock was about to fly off when he was interrupted by a large, flashing light that came crashing down from the sky. What the-no, _who_ the hell? The light faded. Whatever it was, it was old. Green skinned, and his scouter told him its power level was a couple hundred. It also looked very, very nervous. _As it should be_. A small part of Bardock's mind whispered, but he ignored that, dropping into a ready stance. One thing a decade of travel had taught him was that there were abilities that had nothing to do with power levels. Then the creature spoke.

"Who…are you?" Bardock considered the creature. It seemed aware of how dangerous he was. He remained silent, studying the creature. It was definitely one of the strongest beings on this planet, though he wondered, with its apparent age, if it had any fighting ability left to it. Seemingly unnerved by his silence, the creature started again. "I can tell how strong you are. Or perhaps it would be more accurate for me to stay I can tell you are so strong that I cannot accurately determine your power. You could destroy this world if you wished." Bardock straightened, dropping the ready pose and crossing his arms across his chest.

"You're correct," He said, keeping his tone and face neutral.

"Are you going to?" Bardock forced down the smile that wanted to rise to his face. He couldn't deny it, part of him felt good for being feared again.

"That depends on what I find here."

The creature frowned, puzzling something out in his head. "Are you here about Son Goku?"

Bardock frowned. "Who?"

"A child, who greatly resembles you, with the same hair and tail-" He got no further as Bardock moved, faster than the old creature could comprehend, grabbing the front of its robe and lifting into the air.

"Where is he!?" He demanded. The creature raised its arms in a placating gesture.

"He is safe, if that is your concern. He is about to enter the World tournament with his friends."

"Friends? World tournament?" Bardock dropped the old man-he had decided that if it was any gender, it was probably male- and glared down at it, processing. "And why did you call him Son Goku?"

The old man raised a hand as it recovered its breath. "I have concealed your presence from other's on this planet. I can continue to do so. It would likely just be easier to show you." Bardock thought for a moment. His instincts screamed at him to destroy this man, to destroy everything as he went to that high cluster of power levels to find his son. And yet… Bardock nodded, once. There was too much he didn't understand, and this thing seemed to have answers.

"Fine." The old man rose into the air slightly, and Bardock rose with him.

"I am known as Kami. I am a guardian to this planet." Bardock snorted. _Some guardian._ But then again, if he'd been around a while, he'd have been stronger than Kakarot at first…

"Bardock," He replied tersely. Kami nodded in response and flew off. Bardock followed him lazily, needing no real effort to keep up, though it seemed the old man was flying as fast as he could. _Probably trying to keep me in as a good a mood as possible._ Bardock mused as they neared the collection of power levels he had seen earlier. _Not that it matters. I'll decide what to do after seeing what's happened to Kakarot._

They landed quietly on a roof of what seemed to be a waiting area, probably for participants in the tournament. "I am hiding both our power and physical appearance." Bardock grunted. So they couldn't be seen. Great. _I'll have to look into this power-sensing though. It could be useful, not having to worry about having a scouter._ Kami kept talking. "They have just finished the preliminaries. They are now drawing lots to see who will be fighting each other at first." But Bardock was no longer listening. The fighters were all visible now, and it was easy to pick out Kakarot from the bunch. The tail was an obvious dead giveaway, but even before he saw it, Bardock knew his son. _He really does look like me._ That made him happy, strangely. Raditz had resembled him the way all children resembled their parents, and the Saiyans had hardly been diverse in appearance, but nobody would've ever mistaken Raditz for him. _That ridiculous hair of his._

* * *

Kami had fallen silent when it became evident that Bardock was no longer listening. He was just staring at Goku. Almost, Kami might say, drinking in the sight. The mask the man had been wearing that concealed his emotions was gone. Kami saw an equal mixture of sadness and joy, and some internal conflict. Even if he wasn't willing to peer into the man's mind-he was monstrously powerful, and Kami would not endanger the Earth by doing anything that might make him mad-he knew how to read faces. He cleared his throat.

"What is the connection between you and Son Goku?" Bardock tore his gaze away and stared at the old man.

"His name is Kakarot," He said softly. "And he's my son." Kami stared, not having a response. He had known Goku couldn't be quite human but…that he was truly alien? That he belonged to a race with people at impossibly powerful as the being next to him? Bardock's gaze had returned to the courtyard. They had finished drawing lots, with Goku being the last to select. It seemed though, that Goku wanted to make sure. He drew the remaining slip of paper and laughed with friends, though Kami doubted he understood why they were laughing. "How did this come to pass?" Bardock asked quietly.

"There will be a break before the matches actually start," Kami said, and he turned to move away from the ring. "I will explain as best I can."

And so Bardock heard the stories of his son's adventures with his friends, collecting the mystical dragon balls, thwarting the plans of multiple evil groups seeking to take over the world, and along the way, becoming one of the most powerful people on the planet.

"He's really a rather carefree boy. Incredibly pure-hearted. There's not a speck of evil in him." Bardock had sat quietly as Kami had talked. Now that he was finished, he let out a sigh.

"He must have lost his memory early on. Maybe a head injury." Kami inclined his head in thought.

"He would've remembered himself, even as just a baby?" Bardock nodded. Kami considered that. "What…was he sent here for?"

Bardock opened his mouth, paused, and closed it, considering what to say. He decided to be blunt. "Honest answer? He was sent here to wipe out all sentient life on the planet." Kami's jaw dropped and Bardock smirked, pleased he had shocked the old man. He waved a hand. "That hardly seems like an issue now though." He was nonchalant, but was sure Kami heard the underlying message. _It better not be a problem now._

Kami gulped and nodded. "I…yes, he certainly doesn't have such a disposition now. But he was sent here as a baby…how was he supposed to wipe out the inhabitants?"

"Saiyans are warriors," Bardock said. Then he allowed a wry smile to cross his face. "And that's about it. But having such a…singular focus means we're good at what we do."

"Saiyans? That's what you and Goku are?"

Bardock flashed him an annoyed look. "That's what _Kakarot_ and I are, yes. Saiyans have a few powers that specifically make us suited to tasks like his. We have native battle sense, and if we are ever pushed to the brink of death-heavily injured, that is-we come back stronger. And I don't mean that metaphorically. Every time we are beaten badly and recover, our power increases."

"That does explain some things," Kami mumbled, but he indicated that Bardock should continue.

"Beyond that-well, actually, this comes with a question." Kami looked up, confused. "Kakarot should've been turning into a Great Ape every full moon. Good-hearted or not, there's no way he could control himself in that form."

"Ah. Yes, there were a few…incidents. The man who found your son and initially raised him was one of the stronger humans on Earth. As I understand it Gok-Kakarot transformed once when he was very young, and Son Gohan was able to avoid any serious injury. Afterwards, he told the boy to never look up at the moon when it was full."

"I imagine that didn't work out very well."

"They were fine for many years but…yes. One night, Kakarot's curiosity got the best of him. Son Gohan was crushed, and Goku was left alone, with no memory of what he had done." Bardock let out a slight growl of annoyance at the change in name, but decided it wasn't worth pursuing. It was the name his son had gone by for most of his life, and it was the name these people knew him by. Bells tolled from the direction of the tournament stage. "It appears they're starting," Kami said, rising again. Bardock mirrored him. He was curious to see how his son would do.

 _"Let's begin the first round with Yamcha and Tien!"_

As the announcer introduced the first two fighters, Bardock gave Kami a questioning glance. "Yamcha is a friend of your son, and trained under the same master he did in preparation for this tournament. Tien is the student of a rival master."

"Kakarot trained under a master?"

Kami gestured with his staff. "The old man down there, the one in the next battle. He is in disguise to prevent his students from recognizing him."

"Why?"

"He did the same thing last tournament. He didn't want his students to win the tournament for fear of them becoming arrogant and overconfident. As it was, he barely defeated your son. That battle destroyed the moon, actually."

They turned and watched as the fight began. They seemed evenly matched, but Bardock could tell, even without his scouter telling him who was stronger, that the bald one-Tien-had the upper hand.

"Destroyed the moon?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the fight.

"The battle took so long that the moon rose in the sky. Unluckily, it was a full moon."

"And Kakarot transformed…" Bardock muttered, only partially paying attention. The two fighters seemed to have caught a second wind, and were going at it even more fiercely than before. Despite being worlds beyond anyone on this planet, Bardock found that he could still enjoy watching combat between evenly matched contestants.

"Yes. Roshi did not know that the tail was a weak point, and before the others could inform him, he resorted to drastic action. He destroyed the moon to avoid seriously injuring or killing your son."

"It was a good decision for him," Bardock said, a hint of a growl in his voice.

"Ka-me-ha-me…Ha!" Bardock tilted his head in curiosity as Yamcha fired an energy wave at his opponent. He wasn't all that surprised when the other man bounced it back, as he was, considering the others exhaustion from the earlier grapple, far stronger now. "Energy waves? I'm impressed they could manage them, with those power levels."

"The Kamehameha is an energy wave that draws upon whatever strength resides in the body of the user," Kami said. "Thus, it can be used by a wide variety of people, and its strength varies from individual to individual." Yamcha dodged the returning energy and it flew past the stands. Kami made a small motion with his hands right before the energy wave exploded. In response to Bardock's raised eyebrow, he said, simply, "Just making sure nobody was seriously injured."

Their attention returned to the fight as Tien dealt a savage midair kick to Yamcha, knocking him down. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. Apparently that wasn't enough for Tien, as Kakarot seemed to realize.

"Stop it!" He yelled at the rapidly descending fighter. It didn't seem to matter, however, as Tien came down on Yamcha's leg with a sickening crack. Kakarot jumped from the sidelines, yelling out Yamcha's name.

"You said they were friends." Bardock grunted. Yamcha was carried off the stage by- "Did that…thing just turn into a carpet?" Bardock asked, for once truly surprised. Kami answered, keeping his expression neutral.

"Yes. It has the ability to shape shift."

"Huh." Bardock grunted in wonder, re-focusing as Kakarot exchanged tense words with Tien before stalking off the arena. Even from this distance, Bardock could tell how determined his son was to get payback. Bardock looked forward to it.

"So the old man was his teacher, you said?"

"Yes. He held the title of the world's strongest fighter for a time, but has been far outstripped by his pupils. Particularly your son. As a matter of fact, the man who first found and raised the boy was Roshi's most successful pupil, and was stronger than him before he died."

"Wait, so the first person Kakarot met on this planet… was one of the strongest people here?" Kami considered the question, watching as Roshi toyed around with his opponent.

"I…suppose so, yes." Bardock was silent for several moments as Roshi proceeded to humiliate his wolf-like opponent.

"Maybe… it's a good thing he hit his head." Kami suppressed a smile.

"I think the guy was better off as a wolf-man," Bardock grunted as the changed man ran happily out of the arena. Kami made a small noise of agreement. "So this next kid trained under the same master as Kakarot too?' Bardock asked.

"At the same time as well. He's Go-Kakarot's best friend." Bardock let out a mental sigh as the last minute correction. He wondered what his son would think of his real name. Bardock didn't bother to check his scouter as the match started, and Krillin was forced on the defensive.

"He any good?" Bardock asked skeptically.

"His skill and discipline is likely above your son's, actually. Had he the power to back it up, they would be on-par.

"But he doesn't," Bardock said flatly.

"No, he doesn't." Kami agreed. "And even if he did, he simply does not have the natural battle sense Kakarot does." Bardock hummed in thought.

"Not very surprising that he's better in the brain department, honestly." Kami glanced at him in surprise. "Saiyans live for battle, yeah, but there's not a lot of planning that goes into fighting for most of us. Blood gets rushing, you know." Kami didn't seem to 'know', but accepted the explanation anyway.

"Do they not know how to fly?" Bardock asked irritably. Kami looked concerned at the tone of voice.

"No-only the two Crane students." Bardock sighed under his breath as the smaller boy rained energy blasts down.

"Gonna have to start with the basics then."

 _"The winner is Krillin!"_

"The match was only in doubt because of that kid's strange powers, but…what a stupid way to win." Kami didn't comment.

 _"The next match is between-"_

Bardock, for the first time since the matches had begun, checked his scouter as Kakarot and his opponent stepped out onto the arena. He let out a disappointed sigh as his scouter pined. "I was hoping to see him actually fight."

"He'll advance, at least."

Bardock crossed his arms and watched. "I suppose." Still, Bardock couldn't keep a smile from touching his face as Kakarot seemed utterly unimpressed with his flashy opponent, ending the match in one movement. "So his next match is with his best friend huh? And this one is with his master…"

"Not hard to see who's got the upper hand," Bardock commented. The older man was doing an admirable job, all things considered, but Tien was stronger. Roshi seemed to know it too. As far as Bardock could tell, he was attempting to shake the man, either emotionally or psychologically. It seemed to be having some effect as well. At least, it seemed that way until the old man hopped off the ring. "What was the point?" Bardock asked as the crowd booed the abrupt and boring end to the round.

"Roshi's rival-and Tien's teacher-is a rather detestable man. Roshi genuinely wanted Tien to change the way he viewed things. An effort I imagine we'll see bear fruit in the final round." Bardock snorted derisively.

"Whatever."

 _"Both contestants please come out!"_

Bardock watched as the two boys exchanged words before squaring off. As the match began, Bardock could tell that what Kami had said earlier was accurate. Krillin fought more intelligently-but Kakarot was simply stronger, and had better battle instincts. The power gap would only rise as the two grew older, but he made a good opponent for Kakarot right now. As it was, the fight was fairly even, and entertaining to watch. Kakarot was clearly enjoying himself, and Bardock found a smile crossing his face. _Dammit,_ _I've been alone for too long. I'm hardly keeping up the 'fearsome alien' charade. I've been downright_ ** _chatty_** _._

"Ha! Got your weak point, Goku!" Bardock was jolted out of thoughts as he watched Kakarot crumple to the ground as Krillin took firm hold of his tail.

"Ooh," He said in sympathy.

"So tails really are weak points?"

"Yeah. Most of us just keep them wrapped out around our waist." He gestured vaguely toward his own tail. "It can be tra-" Kakarot abruptly jumped up, grinning, and threw Krillin away from him. Bardock was silent for a moment, stunned, before he started laughing. "It can be taught, but normally it requires a _teacher_. Man, I knew adult warriors who went numb if you grabbed their tail." Bardock grinned at his son's apparent talent. Power could be gained-it didn't matter that he was weak now. But so long as he could learn and intuit at a high level, Bardock knew he could make Kakarot into a powerful warrior. After all, he had been considered lower-class at one point too.

It would also make teaching _way_ easier if he could pick things up like that.

The fight ended in ring-out, with Kakarot gently knocking his friend off. He opted to move directly onto the final fight with Tien. Bardock's scouter told him the two were near in power, with Kakarot retaining the edge. The fight began, and Tien seemed to have the upper hand. Both fighters' displays were impressive, but Kakarot seemed to be doing little damage to his opponent-at least until Tien began unleashing a barrage of attacks against Kakarot, knocking him up into the air and quickly smashing him back down into the ground.

"For a tournament fight," Bardock said, his air nonchalant. "He's trying awfully hard to kill him." Kakarot hopped up, apparently none the worse for wear. They exchanged words-and then Kakarot let loose.

"Kakarot was holding back for his friend's sake. He didn't want to seriously hurt or kill anyone," Kami said. Bardock grunted, noting that Kami had made the point of using the correct name.

"Never killed anyone?" Saiyans were Saiyans, but killing an intelligent being wasn't nothing.

"Never...ah, consciously," Kami said, remembering Goku's dealing with the Red Ribbon army. "Self-defense. And some uh… preemptive self-defensive" Bardock grunted again. He could work with self-defense. Freeza and his men would definitely try and kill them. The two fighters were going at it with renewed intensity. Kakarot seemed to have the upper hand, able to counter Tien's techniques, even when he used a blinding flash. "And he just learned what sunglasses are, too." Kami commented. Bardock suppressed his smile this time, remaining stony-faced.

"They're cheating." Bardock was unable to keep the disgust out of his voice entirely. He had been enjoying the fight.

"For now." Kami agreed. "But…" Tien abruptly stopped and yelled at his master. Kakarot got up, and was about to resume fighting when his master called to him. Tien talked with his master for a moment, before the furious old man got up, apparently intending to fight his students-both of which, under normal circumstances would likely defeat him-before Kakarot's master got up and blasted the other man out of the arena. "He's got style," Bardock said, amused, before mentally cursing himself. _Stop being so damn friendly._

"It appears Master Roshi's words earlier had the desired effect." Kami wasn't smug-he was still worried enough that he remained neutral-but it was a jibe nonetheless.

"Quickest allegiance change ever," Bardock said, a little annoyed the old man had been right. "He does have some weird tricks." Tien had somehow sprouted two more arms. It hardly seemed to matter, however, as Kakarot had clearly taken over the match. Tien seemed to understand this, and jumped back. He talked with Kakarot, and Kami's ear's twitched, a worried expression crossing his face.

"What is it?"

"Tien seems to believe his next attack is capable of killing your son." Bardock felt a faint needle of worry.

"What? Kakarot has been winning. He has way more energy left."

"And Tien knows that. So why does he think he can kill him?" Kami voiced Bardock's worry. "For what it's worth, he doesn't want to kill him." Kami continued. "I think he hopes to force him off the stage, so he'll win by ring-out."

"He'd never!" Bardock said, the worry growing. "Memory loss or not, no Saiyan would- _could_ back down from a challenge like that."

"That's what worries me." Kami answered _. More worried about what I'll do if he does go_. Bardock grit his teeth in frustration. It was dangerous for Kakarot now. He could stop this-hell, he could wipe away the whole arena, everybody and everything aside from Kakarot if he wanted-but he knew that he couldn't. No Saiyan would forgive that kind of interference, even if he just blocked the attack-and however Bardock felt, it was clear Kakarot cared about the others here. It wasn't an option just to kill them.

So Bardock forced himself to remain still as Tien launched into the air and charged his energy, concentrating it into the palm of his hands. And Bardock remained still as the energy blast was fired down at the stadium, he remained still as the stadium was obliterated, and he remained still-and smiling-as Kakarot joined Tien in air.

The end was ultimately disappointing, with Kakarot losing due to a technicality. Bardock wasn't too disappointed. His son had fought well, for his power-level, and the end was realistic. Both fighters had been so drained that a real match would've ended in a draw anyway. They watched quietly as the others converged on the two drained combatants, bringing them back to the tournament area as Tienshinhan was presented with the honors. As they moved into the back area for combatants, Kami turned to Bardock.

"What now?"

Bardock crossed his arms and sighed. "You don't have to worry about me destroying the planet anymore, if that's what you're asking." Kami's relief was visible.

"Well…what are you going to do about your son?" Bardock looked over towards where Kakarot and the others had gone.

"I…don't know. I'm not sure what I was expecting but…it wasn't this. I thought I'd be landing on a mostly dead planet, a place that would've made an ideal secluded training spot where I could power him up. But now…well, obviously that's not going to happen." Kami inclined his head, not speaking.

There was a longer pause before Bardock spoke again, hesitant.

"He…wouldn't know me. Not that he would really know me anyway, but…he doesn't know what the Saiyans are. Were. Nothing I said would change him, mean anything. If I thought he'd be able to live the rest of his life in peace…" he trailed off, wondering if he should confide everything. Kami faced him more fully, concern back on his face.

"What happened, Bardock? Why are you here alone? What could have-" He broke off abruptly and spun around, a second faster than Bardock's scouter, which lit up and started analyzing a new power level. And then they heard a scream.


	3. Chapter 2

**2: The Guardian's Other Half**

 **I just want to preface this to say I make** ** _no_** **promises about an upload schedule. I will try to write and update with frequency, but I just know myself well enough not to make any promises.**

"Krillin!" the distant noise of clatter and raised voices came from the participant area. In the distance, Bardock spotted something flying away. He and Kami took off and lighted down on the roof. Muffled voices came from inside.

"Kami?" The old man looked near panic.

"Piccolo…Piccolo is back…"

"Who or what is that?"

"He is…the same race as me. Same age. But pure evil."

"And?" Bardock had noted the hesitation, but decided against pursuing it.

"He is capable of spawning smaller creatures, weaker than himself, but far stronger than anything else here, with the exception of us and maybe your son."

"Even the other fighters?"

"They'd put up a good fight but-no, not likely. After all, Krillin wasn't even a challenge."

"Krillin?"

"Killed by Piccolo's creation." Bardock felt the blood drain from his face.

"Oh no."

He turned toward the exit of the building at the same time as Roshi, audible even to Bardock, began to yell. "Goku! Come back here this instant!" But Bardock knew it wouldn't matter.

Sure enough, Kakarot began to run out of the building, and a- _is that a flying cloud?_ Yes, yes it apparently was, as he watched his son take a running jump, landing on the cloud and checking a machine he held in his hands-that evidently told him which way to go-he abruptly switched direction in midair and took off. Bardock's scouter picked up on two power levels: his son's and the demon's, which was currently higher. And Kakarot was gaining.

"Dammit, he's too tired for this."

"Bardock, wait-"

"Catch up, I'm not waiting!" And Bardock vanished from his sight.

It was faster movement than Kami wouldn't have believed possible if he hadn't witnessed it. He moved as fast as he dared, making sure neither Roshi or his pupils could feel anything beyond the stadium. By the time he caught up the battle was over. Bardock was floating several feet above the ground, his son in his arms. Kami floated down toward them.

"Is he…?"

"Fine." Bardock finished. "He didn't have enough energy to put up a real fight, so the thing didn't hit hard enough to do real harm. Just knocked him out."

"Ah…good."

"Good for it. I wouldn't have allowed a dangerous attack. It would be dust right now otherwise."

Bardock slowly floated down to the ground, Kami following him.

"Well…what now?"

Bardock didn't answer at first, laying his son gently on the ground. Then he spoke, calmly. "I'm going to let him get his revenge."

Kami's eyes widened. "Are you sure that's…wise?"

"He doesn't need my help to do this. He'll only be stronger once he wakes up. I won't deny him revenge for his friend."

"Ah…about that."

Bardock looked up at him. "Is he not dead?"

"He is-but he needn't remain that way." Bardock frowned, but held up a hand to forestall further explanation. He turned back to his son and placed a hand on his head. There was a pause, as Bardock looked like he was struggling with something. Then an abrupt flash, as energy flowed through Bardock and into Goku. The boy was still unconscious, but now glowing with power.

"That should make sure he's safe." Bardock muttered, before turning to Kami. "Sounds like you've got some explaining to do. Both about this Piccolo and however you think someone doesn't need to remain dead." Kami nodded. "Do you have a place you stay? Somewhere to go."

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

* * *

Kami privately thought that Bardock had as much explaining to do as he did, if not more. He was a monstrously powerful alien who had arrived out of nowhere and claimed one of the planet's primary defenders as his own blood. Not only that, but Bardock was clearly worried about something out in the universe he had come from-which meant there were beings _even stronger_ , who could pose a serious threat. But he was also sure that Bardock could protect everyone from Piccolo's rampage. And that was not an advantage he could afford to lose.

So, after they reached the Lookout, he explained. He elaborated on the Dragon Balls and their powers. He hid nothing, telling Bardock all about his and Piccolo's split from the same being, and how their lives were tied together. He told him that Piccolo likely sought the Dragon Balls to return to his youth, and would then hatch demons to conquer the earth. It was, he realized, the first time he had told the story so frankly, or in one sitting. He wouldn't have thought anyone related to Goku would have the patience for such a lecture.

Bardock walked over to the edge of the lookout and looked down at the world, one hand idly playing with his scouter as he looked for Kakarot's power level.

Kami joined him. "Look more to the left. He's awake and found another powerful human nearby." Bardock looked, his scouter eventually locking on.

"…hm. That's not bad for a human."

"He is likely some kind of hermit. His strength came from living on his own in the wild," Kami said.

Bardock was quiet as he stared down at the planet. "Must be something. Looking down on it all, all the time."

"A responsibility I took on that I fear I have failed at," Kami said quietly. "I had the power to affect things. But I rarely used it. Your son has done a great deal more for the people of this world in the past few years than I have."

Another power level appeared on Bardock's scouter, smaller than either the human's or his son's power.

Kami shifted uncomfortably. "Another of Piccolo's demons."

"It's weak. They can kill it with no difficulty." He chose not to comment on what Kami had said. Thinking of his son as a guardian of another planet was disturbing, for reasons he couldn't quite name.

"Piccolo will be able to sense the death of his demon. There will be retribution." It was clear that the human had engaged the demon.

"More demons? Or Piccolo himself?"

"There is only one other demon not currently accompanying Piccolo at this time. The one who killed Krillin. I imagine it will be sent first."

"And Kakarot will kill it, and then Piccolo will investigate."

"Likely."

The demons power level disappeared. Bardock considered the two remaining power levels for several seconds. "Kami, you said Piccolo would likely wish for his youth back, right?"

"Ah…yes, likely."

"Is that the same as immortality?"

Kami considered. "…No. It would agelessness, not invulnerability. He could still be killed by anyone with enough power."

"Is there a chance he could wish for immortality instead?"

"A slight one, yes. But I doubt it. That would make me immortal by extension, and I have the power to oppose him." Bardock nodded thoughtfully, before turning to face the old man.

"Then this is what's going to happen. I'm going to follow Kakarot through this. His fights with the demons, and Piccolo. And I'll make sure to be there if Piccolo summons the dragon. If he wishes for immortality, I'll make sure to stop him. Otherwise, I'm letting it play out to the end. I'll only interfere to save Kakarot's life, if necessary."

Kami stared at him, bewildered by the sudden plan. "And…and what am I doing while this is going on?"

"You're staying on the Lookout making sure nobody knows I exist."

"What? I am the Guardian, you can't just-"

"I _can_ just tell you what to do. And you know it." Silence fell between them. "I don't trust you to stay out of this. I need Kakarot to become as strong as possible, and I'm not passing up this kind of trial for him. I promise I'll explain why later." Kami looked like he strongly disagreed. "You said it yourself." Bardock told him. "Whoever Piccolo kills doesn't have to remain dead. There doesn't need to be any long-term harm from this."

The old man sighed. "I can't contest you. I will do as you ask." His tone was mildly sarcastic, as it was clear that Bardock wasn't asking.

"Good." Bardock turned his scouter back to where his son was, and caught another power heading toward him. He'd have to move fast to watch his son get revenge.

* * *

Bardock landed out of sight noiselessly, trusting Kami to conceal his power from those who might sense it. He had learned how to move silently when the need arose.

"You think you could kill me? That must be a joke!" The demon had landed, and was now facing off with Kakarot. Bardock watched the exchange with interest, curious if his son would handle his anger better this time. He eyed the impatient fat man with the sword, who was apparently interested in eating the demon. _Hardcore._ Bardock thought with approval, noting the remains of what must have been the first demon. _A little ridiculous and over the top, but hardcore._

"Don't worry, Krillin, I will avenge your death!" Bardock returned his attention to Kakarot, noting he had dropped into a ready stance. He also noted that the boy still faintly glowed with the energy Bardock had given him. He had meant it to merely make sure Kakarot was ready to fight the moment he woke up. It had been hard, drawing just a small portion of his energy so as not to overload the boy. It was impressive how much of that power he had retained.

As it was, it seemed the power was a little more than Kakarot had expected, as he charged right past the demon, his momentum almost bringing him crashing into a tree on the far side of the clearing. The other two looked at him, apparently unsure how to interpret the act. Kakarot regained his balance, staring at his hands in wonder.

"Uh…Goku? Weren't you going to kill him?" The human seemed confused.

"Ha!" The demon laughed at the sentence, but Kakarot lowered his hands, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"Yeah, I was."

The demon quite literally didn't see him coming when Kakarot charged, this time on target, sending it crashing into-and through- a tree not too far from Bardock, who surreptitiously took a step back. It slowly regained its feet, looking dazed, and then charged back across the clearing, swiping at Kakarot, who ducked and landed a solid punch to its gut, before kicking it up into the air, jumping up after it and landing a good half-dozen blows before knocking it back down to Earth. The demon managed to get on all fours.

"How…how could…a mere human…I am one of…the Great Piccolo's children!" Bardock grinned. Kakarot might not know it, but the answer was simple. The demon abruptly fired a burst of energy from its mouth, directly at the young Saiyan. Bardock was sure he was the only one there who never lost track of Kakarot, as the boy dodged to the side of the blast.

"This one's for you, Krillin!" But before he attacked, the demon flew up into the sky as fast as it could.

"Now that's not fair." Bardock murmured as he tracked its flight. To his surprise though, Kakarot grabbed the pole strapped to his back and planted it in the ground, where it began to extend rapidly, taking Kakarot with it. The boy launched off it, bringing him close enough to the fleeing demon to bring his hands back, glowing with energy.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" The demon looked back in time to see its own death approaching. Then it was gone.

Bardock watched his son and the human talk quietly, waiting for Kami's prediction to come true. Soon enough, a large machine came into view. Bardock guessed it was something used as a substitute for flying. Kakarot seemed to be able to use his machine to tell of the ships approach, as he abruptly looked up and caught sight of its descent. A noise came from the machine.

 _"Master Piccolo, we have arrived at our destination."_

The name seemed to strike a chord in the human, who abruptly pulled the dragon ball around his neck and handed it to Kakarot, before running off to hide. _All power, no guts._ Bardock thought as the machine came to a stop in the air. _Wait, scratch that. He has plenty of guts. Just the wrong kind._

The old demon dropped from the machine and landed in front of Kakarot.

"You're the one who killed Krillin and stole my Dragon Ball, aren't you!?"

"I suppose. You have another Dragon Ball in your possession." Bardock checked his scouter while they talked. Piccolo was still the stronger one. And Bardock doubted his son had the experience or techniques to overcome the power gap, even with the energy Bardock had given him.

Defeat can be a valuable lesson. But if it looked like Piccolo was actually going to kill Kakarot…then Bardock was going to reveal himself. Violently.

Kakarot attacked first, surprising Piccolo with his speed. He was creative with his attacks and used his tail to his advantage, but Bardock could tell he wasn't really doing any damage. Piccolo was knocked to the ground, and Kakarot dropped to his feet, panting. _Not enough._ The demon got to his feet, apparently deciding to take the fight more seriously. He charged, surpassing Kakarot's speed and knocking him up into the air, before smashing him back into the ground.

Kakarot remained cheeky through the beating, but offered no real resistance. Bardock idly wondered why his son's Kamehameha seemed to initially scare Piccolo, despite the zero effect the blast had. _Maybe it looked like something else._ Bardock wasn't concerned until Piccolo started concentrating his energy into his hands. Against a normal opponent, this would have been an over the top finishing attack meant to show off. Saiyans were more durable, but in this particular case, Bardock was worried it was passing the threshold he could reasonably expect Kakarot to survive.

Kakarot dodged the first blast, and Bardock began to move forward to destroy the second one, when Kami's voice abruptly shouted in his head.

 ** _Don't!_**

Bardock skidded to a stop, expecting the Guardian to show up and block or weaken the attack. Nothing happened. The attack connected. Kakarot's expression of surprised pain remained frozen on his face as he fell to Earth.

Bardock remained frozen as Piccolo walked over and placed a hand on his son's body.

"His heart's stopped. He's dead." Bardock swore he could hear the beating of his own heart. Piccolo tore the Dragon Ball off the rope and laughed.

 ** _Wait._**

Piccolo flew back up to his ship, and in moments it began to fly away. The human came out and stared at Kakarot, a sad look on his face.

Kami appeared beside Bardock, and drew breath to speak. He never got a chance as Bardock lashed out, seizing him by the throat and throwing him against a tree, snapping some of the branches with the force. He heard a start of surprise from the clearing, but ignored it. Fighting to keep his voice his quiet, Bardock growled out, "You better have a _damn_ good reason for this."

Kami raised his hands placatingly. "I brought medicine which can-"

"You idiot! His heart-"

"Hey! Goku! Come on! They froze, and soon the sound of running passed by them. A moment later there was a splash, and then the sound of distant conversation. Kami silently motioned for them to go over there.

"That's life! You come across someone who is stronger than you. Piccolo is invincible."

Bardock felt like he'd just released a breath he'd been holding. His son was alive.

"Hey, do you know Karin tower?"

Bardock turned to Kami. "That medicine?" he held out his hand, but Kami unsteadily shook his head, apparently still off-balance from Bardock's throw.

"Karin tower is where is comes from. I wasn't sure if Son would remember. There is no need for us to reveal ourselves."

Bardock gave him a black look. "You and I are going to talk about this."

"I knew the blow would not outright kill him. Senzu beans-these-" he showed Bardock a few small, green beans, "are an instant, full heal. They were devised by myself and the Sage Goku is on his way to visit."

Kami could tell Bardock wasn't about to forgive him. He supposed he couldn't understand what the man felt, seeing his son hurt like that. If anything, it was comforting to know he cared enough to be so angry. There was the noise of a car driving away. Bardock's head jerked at the sound.

"It is a vehicle for transportation. The human is taking your son to the tower." Bardock grunted. "I confess, there was another reason I prevented you from interfering." There was that black look again. This man was fully capable of killing him, even on accident. Kami was beginning to question his ability to control his strength. He evidently hadn't meant to kill Kami with that throw, but the Guardian doubted anybody else on the planet aside from him and Piccolo would've survived such force. And that was only because of the way his body was made up.

"Well?" Bardock's tone was one of pure hostility. After he had appeared, the mysterious man had thawed quickly, free with information about himself, his son, and their race. He had changed from an ominous figure with the power to wipe out the planet itself to an honest, self-effacing father, who had been almost friendly with Kami. That was gone. The man next to him was angry, distrustful, and looked like he would rather just throw Kami into another tree than listen to him.

"The sage has an…elixir. A potion that will tap into Kakarot's potential and bring some of it forth. I informed the sage, on my way here, to present it to Kakarot if he arrives. I had intended to direct him there, but he made the decision himself."

"A potion?" Bardock's tone was one of suspicion.

"It can be poison to those too weak. But I am certain Kakarot will last through the trial period. If I am right, he will emerge strong enough to fight Piccolo. Especially with that boost from defeat you mentioned."

Bardock was doing his best to remain reasonable, rational. It was himself, after all, that had merely wanted to observe, and had told Kami to remain on the Lookout. Events had proven the old man right in his actions, both in ignoring Bardock and preventing interference. They were still undetected, and Kakarot would only become stronger.

The problem was that he didn't give a damn.

It surprised a small part of him. He hadn't actually even spoken to his son, and yet his near-death made him so furious. The rest of him currently wanted to break some part of Kami and then fly off and go kill his counterpart. He couldn't of course. Killing one meant killing the other, but _dammit_ , he hated just watching that. Kami spoke cautiously, as though afraid he would be shouted down. "Your son's friends-they're approaching Piccolo. It is highly likely they possess the rest of the Dragon Balls."

"You don't know?" The question came out more aggressive than he meant it to. No wonder Kami was speaking so carefully.

"I intentionally made them hard to find. I never thought their location would be important to me. But one of the humans developed a radar to track them. They would have found them quickly." They were quiet for a moment. Bardock had locked his scouter onto his son's power and was following it. "I…we, need to make sure that Piccolo doesn't wish for immortality." Slowly, Bardock reached up and released the lock on his scouter, turning back to Kami.

"Yeah."

* * *

Piccolo wished for youth, at the cost of two of Kakarot's friends. Shenron went not too long after. After that, there wasn't too much to see. They flew slowly toward Karin's tower, not talking.

Eventually, Bardock spoke up. "The dragon?"

"Can be restored. But I begin to wonder if it should."

"You're going to." Was the cold response.

Kami turned to look at him as they flew, and asked, accusingly, "So you can use the power for yourself?"

"Because you promised to revive Kakarot's friends." Silence. "They died because of your mess, Kami. Don't punish my son for it."

"I…you're right, of course." Bardock evidently wasn't in the mood to say 'I know.'

They landed noiselessly on the top of Karin's tower.

 _"Are you insane!? That's not courage, that's suicide!"_

"They are talking about the Choshinsui." Kami said quietly.

"That potion you mentioned?"

"Yes."

 _"I have to avenge Kamesennin and Krillin!"_

"You're sure he'll survive this?"

"Yes. I told Karin to offer it."

 _"No one's forcing you. Maybe after a few years of training, you can beat Piccolo."_ Kakarot evidently didn't care, as he yelled and downed the contents of the cup.

The rest of the night was spent listening to Kakarot's interchanged screams of pain and his desperate breaths as he tried to suck air in. It wasn't what Bardock would call a pleasant evening. As the sun rose, he heard the sage's exclamation of surprise. Kami even gave a little start.

"I hadn't hoped-that really is enough power to challenge Piccolo."

"I should hope so." Bardock grunted. He pressed a finger to his scouter and read his son's new level. It had risen a lot, relatively speaking.

 _"I feel something…Piccolo is close."_

 _"You feel him?"_

Bardock turned a raised eyebrow on Kami.

"The potion gave him rudimentary energy sensing."

"Huh." Bardock looked across the landscape, his scouter trying to pick out Piccolo's energy. "Maybe I should drink it."

"I doubt it would affect you at all."

 _"Kintoun!"_

Bardock turned and looked with some surprise at the giant orange cloud that had just appeared alongside the tower. Kami motioned to him and they both drifted upward, where they wouldn't be accidentally spotted. Bardock watched as Kakarot hopped down onto the cloud, excited. He looked around a moment, before grabbing a piece off it.

"I want this one!" And a moment later, he hopped on it, flying up to speak briefly to Karin and the human. "I'm off!" And he flew away.

"…What is with those flying clouds?"

"It's…a bit of a story." They floated back down to the top of the tower. Kami made a little motion with his hand, and a moment later Bardock heard the human start freaking out.

 _"Wha-oh no catch me! Catch me-AAAAAH!"_ He had apparently tripped over something. Bardock watched as he plummeted out of sight.

"He'll be fine," Kami said serenely.

"Uh…ok."

Kami raised his voice and spoke. "Karin! Come up here please! And bring a couple of Senzu beans."

 _"Wha-oh, that voice! Kami? One second!"_

"Any particular reason he has to come to us?"

"It would be cramped in there."

Apparently, Karin the Sage was some sort of short cat-man.

 _This planet sure has some weird inhabitants._

Karin hurriedly climbed up onto the roof.

"Kami! What is it?-Who the-" Karin actually took a step back in surprise at the sight of Bardock, apparently forgetting he was on the edge of a roof. Bardock reacted fastest, reaching out and grabbing the Sage's walking stick. "O-oh! Thank you." The Sage steadied himself, looking a question at Kami.

"Do you have Senzu beans?"

"Y-yes." He said, holding up two beans. Bardock held out his hand silently. "Uh…" Kami nodded, and Karin gave the man who bore such a striking resemblance to Son Goku took the beans.

"I will ensure you go unnoticed. And I promise not to interfere this time."

"For your sake, I hope you keep that promise." And the man flew off without another word.

As he flew further away, Karin could make out a faint shine, like a bubble, surrounding the man. Looking back at Kami, he realized that the Guardian must be hiding him. It made him feel better that he hadn't simply missed him.

"Who was that?" He asked of the Guardian.

"Somebody you will not be telling Son Goku about when he comes back through here." Karin stared at him. "After he defeats Piccolo, give him the instructions to get to my Lookout. And answer none of his questions, about me or otherwise."

"Yes, Kami," Karin agreed, still confused.

"I will explain the rest to you, in time, my friend. For now, I must go about resurrecting Shenron." And then he disappeared.

* * *

Bardock arrived at the battleground moments after his son had. He saw an injured human, a dead demon, and a stunned Piccolo.

 _Seems about right_.

He alighted on a nearby building, trusting Kami to keep him out of sight. They exchanged a few brief words, and then Piccolo struck. Kakarot blocked the attack, and the second one, before he sent the demon flying into a building. It was a good sign, only both Bardock's experience and his scouter indicated that Piccolo was holding back more than Kakarot was.

Piccolo charged out the rubble. "I'm going to kill you!" He used the same blast that had finished Kakarot last time, only to find it ineffective. Then Kakarot went on the attack. They exchanged several blows, the young Saiyan retaining the edge, until he knocked Piccolo back. The demon stopped, and glared at Kakarot, an evil smile on his face.

They talked more, Bardock being too far away to make out the words. He floated over to a closer building.

"You should know…that using my full power will shorten my lifespan." _Did he really only wish for 'youth' instead of 'eternal youth'? Idiot._ The battle resumed, each exchanging blows. Piccolo seemed to be tougher, Kakarot faster, and more inventive with his attacks. Bardock noted that Piccolo's ability to sense energy seemed weak, as he constantly overestimated the effects his attacks had. The fight was evenly matched.

Kakarot seemed to have just gained the upper hand when Piccolo fired energy blasts from his eyes, catching one of Kakarot's legs. In response, he used the extending pole he carried to land a knee to Piccolo's head. This seemed to do little more than enrage the demon, and he concentrated energy in his hands. He fired one blast from his finger, which Kakarot dodged, and then another, which knocked the pole out of his hands. Bardock started to move to grab his son when Piccolo released the rest of the built-up energy in a massive explosion, but he saw the human move first, and stayed where he was, now floating in the air as the building was destroyed.

They dropped back to Earth quickly. Bardock recognized the human as Tien Shinhan, Goku's opponent from the tournament. _Not bad._ Still, it was apparent he was now utterly drained as Piccolo went to charge another explosion. Kakarot rushed forward off his one good leg to slam his fist into Piccolo's stomach. His momentum wasn't enough, however, and Piccolo released his blast. Again, Bardock almost moved, before he saw Kakarot blocking it and realized the blast was of a much weaker strength then before.

Kakarot's cloud came down into the crater formed by the blast and carried him out. As he regained his feet to continue challenging Piccolo, the demon abruptly moved and grabbed the immobile Tien.

"Move a muscle and I'll crush his head!" Naturally, Kakarot acquiesced. _Dirty_. Bardock still didn't interfere. He was confident he'd be fast enough to stop a killing blow, and this was hardly an unrealistic battle situation. Kakarot had to learn somehow. Piccolo took out an arm with a rock, and just as Kakarot seemed to make up his mind to attack, Piccolo yelled "I killed Shenron, you idiot!" Kakarot froze again, and Piccolo took out another leg.

That was apparently enough for Piccolo, who tossed Tien off to the side as Kakarot fell to the ground. The demon flew into the air, before diving back down. "DIE!" Bardock didn't move. The fight wasn't over.

Kakarot still had an arm.

The boy concentrated all his energy into his remaining useable hand, first blasting himself up to meet Piccolo in mid-air. "I…I'll block you!" Piccolo came to a stop in the air, holding out his hands in front of him to catch the attack. Bardock made his decision. If the attack was stopped, he'd finish the battle himself. Otherwise, he'd let it all play out.

They met in the air, and Kakarot tore right through Piccolo.

Bardock grinned. Kakarot had won, and Piccolo was- _oh, wait,_ _SHIT **.**_ If Piccolo died, Kami went with him. He watched as Kakarot began to fall back to Earth, and then looked back at Piccolo. The dying man swelled for a second, and then spit out an egg that flew off into a nearby hill. _Please tell that will do what I think it will do._ Then Piccolo exploded.

 _A little over the top._ But Bardock hoped that meant that part of him still lived, and that it was only the body that was gone. The force threw off Kakarot's descent, and he started falling faster, before he was caught by the fat human who had taken him to Karin's tower. The human was apparently none the worse for wear from his fall, though Bardock noted his clothes were slightly torn. He knew he needed to go check on Kami, and so, instead of using this opportunity to introduce himself, he threw the Senzu beans down to the ground.

"Hey! Senzu! Karin must have sent them!"

By the time any of them looked up, Bardock was gone.

 **And thus ends the most skippable chapter of the story. Honestly, I did my best, but I might as well have written a chapter of Bardock** ** _reading_** **this volume of DB. It was a necessary chapter, and I didn't want to just skip this stuff, but I hope it was more interesting to read than it was to write. Having to constantly check the manga to make sure it all lines up is just tedious. Good news is, next chapter finally has original content! Yay! And after that chapter this story will** ** _finally_** **be deviating from canon, as we see the effects of Bardock being involved in Goku's training for the next Budokai. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: "God's" Test**

"Kami!" Bardock called out as he landed on the Lookout. To his relief, the old Guardian stepped out of the building.

"I'm alive." He said calmly. "Though it was a near thing."

"Then that egg Piccolo spat out the end…"

"Contained some of himself, yes. Which means the battle with him isn't over."

Bardock waved a hand at that. "By the time that comes around he'll be no match for Kakarot. You arranged for him to come up here?"

"Yes, he'll have to if he wants the Dragon Ball's back." He gestured to his servant, Mr. Popo, who had the 7 restored balls on a tray. "Once he gets here, I had planned on informing him about Piccolo and telling him he needs to train here to be ready."

Bardock frowned. "'Had' planned?"

Kami looked a little nervous. "You…were planning on training him yourself, were you not?"

"Do you have a reason I shouldn't?" Bardock growled.

Kami considered him for a moment before turning to Mr. Popo. "Put those back inside, please." The servant hurried to comply, and Kami returned to facing Bardock. "I have to be honest, Bardock. I question your ability to hold back enough. I'm worried you'll hurt him." Mr. Popo came back out and watched the exchange with interest. "Right now." Kami said, "I am the second strongest being on this planet. I'm sure young Kakarot will have surpassed me after long." Kami turned and handed his walking stick to Mr. Popo and turned to face Bardock, dropping into a ready stance.

"I want you to punch me as hard as you think would be safe."

Bardock blinked. "What?" "

Perhaps it would be better to meet fists. Punch each other."

Bardock still looked lost. "Why?"

"Imagine I'm Kakarot."

Bardock shrugged, dropping into a ready stance. "Whatever makes you feel better." Kami moved first, throwing a punch. Bardock met it, bringing his power down to Kami's level.

He blew Kami's arm clean off.

"Kami!" Mr. Popo ran over, panicking. Kami held up a hand to stop him. Green blood flowed from his shoulder joint, and there was a trail leading to where his arm, now mangled, lay in a pool of the stuff. Bardock remained frozen, in complete shock.

"And that…" Kami said, wincing, "Is why I said to test on me, rather than wait for Kakarot or have Mr. Popo do it." He strained for a moment, and then another arm burst from his shoulder. He flexed it repeatedly, stretching it. He looked up, apparently a little concerned at the expression on Bardock's face. "Are…you alright?"

All Bardock could picture was something similar happening to Kakarot. But Saiyans couldn't regrow arms.

"I…does doing that…hurt?" It was the only question he could think to ask.

Kami gave him a slight smile. "Yes. But what's important is that I can do it." He held up both arms. "I am more or less none the worse for wear." Bardock shook his head several times, trying to rid himself of the image of Kakarot injured like that.

"…Maybe you have a point."

"It shouldn't be hard to work on. In fact, I could couple it with teaching you about energy sensing and controlling."

"Controlling?"

"Similar to what I've been doing for you. Controlling how much energy others can sense from you."

Bardock crossed his arms and thought. He couldn't train with Kakarot, not like this. That image of himself horribly injuring his son flashed into his mind again and he shuddered. "Do you have any ideas?"

Kami nodded. "I would imagine that, once who you were was explained, Kakarot would want to train with you immediately. I propose that we wait to introduce you until you've learned more about energy and control, and Mr. Popo and myself have toughened him up enough."

Bardock considered this. "You want me to stay in the Lookout?"

"I was going to conceal part of the Lookout. Like I've been doing for you."

"That's a much bigger space."

"It also doesn't move. The effort would be about the same. I like to think of it as training for myself." Bardock grunted, and then a thought occurred to him.

"You do realize that Kakarot is going to attack you when he first sees you, right?" Kami looked confused for a moment, before understanding.

"Ah, yes. I suppose…he would." He touched his own face self-consciously.

"How about we both wait to show ourselves then? Until the two of us are ready. Besides, telling Kakarot he's training to meet you is more believable than that he's just waiting to meet some guy he's never seen before." Kami considered for a moment, before nodding.

"Agreed. He should be here soon. I had Karin tell the human to tell Kakarot to return to the tower to learn more about the fate of the Dragon Balls." As if on que, Kami suddenly turned to look beneath them. "Ah…there he is." A pause. "And there he goes…where is he going?"

"He can't fly. How was he supposed to get up here? The cloud?"

"No, he's to use the Nyoi Bo, the staff he carried."

"Oh, that? Piccolo knocked it away from him."

"He's probably off to retrieve it then. That gives me time to set up the barrier." He clapped his hands to together as he turned to survey the lookout. "Let's see…how about…a third of the space. And the inside. Anything he needs will have to be brought out to him." Bardock could tell Kami was more muttering to himself rather than talking to him or Mr. Popo. "The barrier will be more obvious than it was for Bardock…but that's good. Add to the mystery he wants solved. The more motivation, the harder he'll work to find out what's behind it…"

Bardock shook his head, amused in spite of himself. The old, wise Guardian looked and sounded like he was planning a party.

He felt a headache coming on. "Is there a place I can lie down? I haven't slept in a day or two." Normally, he caught sleep in his pod, traveling between destinations. He'd sat awake for most of the last trip, agitating about what Kakarot would be like, what shape he would be in, and how he would react to his father.

"Of course." It was Mr. Popo who spoke. "Follow me, please."

The room the servant showed him to a rather comfortable looking room. Bardock was only just now realizing how tired he was. The best way he had found to deal with his headaches was to get to sleep before they peaked. He threw his boots off, removed his gloves, and finally pulled the armor over his head. It felt good to be free of it. He didn't notice Mr. Popo collect it all, with the intent of washing it. He threw himself onto the bed, and was asleep in seconds.

 _It was as if he were watching is life on fast-forward. He was a young Saiyan, shunned by the far more powerful royal family. Then he was standing on the balcony of his run-down house, staring at the horizon and promising to himself that he would surpass them all one day, no matter what got in the way. Then he was joining the ranks of the warriors, one of the weakest there, being taught about Freeza's system for conquering planet. His young self, lying awake and wondering why they served Freeza if they were so powerful, unaware many others were doing the same. Himself fighting battle after battle, losing most, until he started to win. And continue winning. Joining an elite unit, and then being given command of his own. Squad members that became friends, then family. Gine, being even more unlike other Saiyans than he was, who understood why it was strange to behave the way other Saiyans did, who wasn't afraid to have real emotions. Love, and a child he never paid enough attention to. Battles. Another child. He swore to do better. Dodoria, killing his friends. Freeza, destroying his planet, his race, and all but the last member of his family. Himself, standing before Freeza, and then again, Kakarot in front of Freeza, on a planet he didn't recognize. But it wasn't real. Then he was questing to find his son. Landing on Earth and made to understand that everything he'd planned, had thought of, was going to have to change. Watching his son and his friends fight and deciding that maybe it wasn't actually a bad thing._

 _And then another image. Himself, lying on a dying planet, surrounded by the bodies of his family as he had known them. Gine, lying in a pool of her own blood, staring at him, looking betrayed. Baby Kakarot, frozen mid scream, as he had been screaming the first time Bardock had checked on him. Young Raditz, crying out for his father as the world came to an end. Himself, helpless. Unable to save them._

* * *

"Bardock?"

He jerked upwards. "Wh-what?" He was panting, sweat covering his face.

"Are you alright?" He looked over, and saw Kami in the doorway, looking concerned. He was in the Lookout, with Kami. Kakarot was going to be here soon. Kakarot, his son, who was alive and healthy and had just overcome the greatest trial of his young life.

"Y…yeah…dream." He looked at his hands, and that image of his family popped into his head again. It wasn't the first time he'd seen it in his dreams. _It isn't real._ He reminded himself. _It's not a vision. You don't get those anymore. It's just a nightmare._ Kami stood awkwardly in the doorway. He looked genuinely concerned for Bardock, but also seemed to have no idea how to react to his dangerous visitor having a nightmare.

"I, uh, just thought you should know Kakarot has arrived. He's just met with Mr. Popo. The barrier I set up is only one-way, you can go up and see him." Bardock nodded several times, trying to rid himself of his dream.

"Yeah I'll…just a minute. Is there a sink nearby?"

He splashed water on his face. The bathroom was adjoining, he just hadn't noticed it at first. _Go see Kakarot. It's what you need right now._ He told himself. He hadn't lost his whole family. Not that he was actually going to talk to his son, or touch him- _Kakarot's arm flying off like Kami's had._ He splashed more water on his face, and looked at himself in the mirror. This was pathetic, being shaken by a nightmare. He was a warrior, dammit! He hadn't been shaken like this on any of his missions, he'd even kept calm when Planet Vegeta was destroyed and he had almost lost everything. So the thought of losing what he had left was frightening. So what? Kakarot wasn't fragile. When Bardock was done with him, he wouldn't have to fear anything on this planet. _So get to it! Stop standing here staring at yourself!_ With something like a physical effort, he dragged himself away from the mirror and grabbed a towel, wiping off the water on his face. _Right. Let's go learn about energy._

 _And see Kakarot._

* * *

Kami looked slightly relieved that Bardock was back to himself when he emerged from the sanctuary. The Saiyan reflected that he must have greatly confused the Guardian. He'd been horribly inconsistent in his actions and attitudes. He might start doing it on purpose. It was fun to see him so confused.

"So, Goku." Mr. Popo was saying. "Why do you wish to meet with Kami?" Kakarot was panting, down on one knee, and seemed genuinely bewildered at his inability to get by Mr. Popo. He staggered to his feet.

"I…I need him to revive Shenron!" Mr. Popo turned and looked back toward the barrier. Kami nodded.

"He can see through the barrier?"

"Only he can."

Mr. Popo turned and looked back at Kakarot. "Please wait here." The young Saiyan looked perplexed, and then started in surprise as Mr. Popo disappeared from his sight. The servant picked up the tray of Dragon Balls and walked back outside the barrier.

Kakarot gasped. "The Dragon Balls!"

"Yes, Kami already revived Shenron, you see." Bardock heard a faint fluttering and turned to stare at a carpet that was floating out from the Lookout and over to Mr. Popo. "Now, I am going to go deliver these to your friends. I want you to stay here and adjust to the thinner air."

"Thinner air?"

"Yes, there is not as much oxygen this high up, so you run out of breath faster. Do some light running and stretches in this part of the Lookout. Do you see that shimmering wall?" Mr. Popo pointed over toward where Bardock and Kami were standing. Kakarot nodded. "Do not go past that. That is Kami's instruction." Kakarot's face fell. "I will back shortly." Still holding the Dragon Balls, Mr. Popo hopped onto his carpet and was quickly gone from sight.

Kakarot did as he was told, exercising to help his body adjust. But as Bardock knew would happen, curiosity soon came over Kakarot, and he jogged over to the barrier, staring at it, standing inches away from Bardock. He examined it for almost a minute, before reaching out a hand. Right before he touched the barrier, however, he pulled his arm back, grinning to himself.

"Nah!" And he turned and jogged back to the open parts of the Lookout. Mr. Popo returned shortly afterwards, and Bardock was sure he'd been watching Kakarot to see what he would do.

Mr. Popo stepped off his carpet, which immediately started floating back toward the Lookout. "Your friends are alive, and I have explained the situation to them."

"Situation?"

"You will be remaining here to train for the next 3 years, until the next Tenkaichi Budokai."

"I am!?"

Bardock turned a critical eye on Kami. "You had him explain it to Kakarot's friends _before_ Kakarot?"

"I thought they would need to know first. There is very little chance Kakarot will turn down such an offer." He held out a hand toward the young Saiyan to indicate his meaning. Kakarot was practically jumping up and down with joy.

"I get to train up here!? With Kami!? That's so cool!"

Bardock grunted. "Still seems backwards to me."

"Can we just agree it doesn't matter?"

"Now, Goku, it won't be all fun and games." Kakarot quieted down, looking at the servant in confusion. "You see, there is still a threat you need to be prepared for. Piccolo yet lives."

"What!? But I killed him!"

"As he was dying, he spat out an egg that contained most of his essence. His son, if you will. Piccolo Jr. will surely seek to kill you and your friends, and we think it likely that he will enter the next Budokai. As such, Kami has given you permission to train up here on the Lookout, with him, so you will be ready to face him when the time comes."

"Oh…well, let's get started then!"

"Not so fast." Mr. Popo held up his hands. "Kami resides behind that barrier," Mr. Popo said. "But there are a series of tests we have devised that you must pass before meeting him." Kakarot cocked his head, looking confused.

"Tests? Like what?"

"There are certain abilities you need to master before you can train with Kami, like the ability to fly, and sense energy. You will also need to be strong enough, fast enough, and able to withstand a certain amount of force. Kami has specific qualifications, you see. Finally, there will be another fight with me."

"O-oh…ok."

"One more thing," Mr. Popo said. Kakarot looked at him expectantly. "You will not be allowed inside the Lookout until you complete these tests."

"Wh-what!?"

"We have a spare mattress, some blankets, and a pillow for you, but you will not be allowed to actually go inside until we say you can."

"But it's already so cold up here! What about at night?"

"It'll be even colder."

"That's not-"

"Consider it extra motivation."

"What about the bathroom?"

"Figure that out on your own. You can go down to find one if you need to, but you'll have to climb back up."

"Oh…well, let's get started then!"

Kami turned to Bardock. "I believe that is our que to start as well."

Bardock nodded. "Can't very well have him knowing how to do something I can't." He stretched and yawned. "Good thing I already slept."

* * *

It amused Bardock that he and his son were undergoing the same training on opposite sides of a transparent wall. It was a fairly new experience for Bardock, being taught by someone who…well, someone who didn't feel the need to hit him at every available opportunity. Getting hit until you got it right more or less summed up Saiyan combat training. (Not that they stopped hitting you once you got it right, you just had the chance to hit back.) This kind of immobile, precise energy controlling was also new to him. He didn't have to spend any time learning flight, but after a lifetime of relying on a scouter, transitioning to energy-sensing was difficult. It didn't help that he was impatient with anything other than bettering his control of his own energy. The standards of strength, speed, and toughness set for Kakarot were a fiction. 'When Kakarot becomes strong enough' translated to 'when Bardock is able to make himself weak enough.'

"Please, Bardock. Concentrate. Your son is picking this up faster than you are." Kami had been using that motivator for the better part of two weeks now.

Bardock shook his head, trying to focus. "Sorry, I just-headaches. I told you I get them."

Kami frowned. "And you've yet to tell me why. Kakarot certainly doesn't get them, and you've said it's not something that happens to other Saiyans. I might be able to help if you just-"

"No helping it. Just something I have to live with. Keep going." Kami sighed. There was clearly a specific reason Bardock was afflicted with his migraines, which had been progressively been growing worse during his time on the Lookout. The most Kami had gotten out of him on it was that they had started getting worse 'since he'd started looking for Kakarot,' and that it'd just picked up since coming to Earth. They were infrequent-2 a month at best-and there was no indication that he was getting more of them. But it was slowly getting to the point where he was unable to do anything during them.

"Alright then, if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Point to where Krillin is." Bardock paused a moment, searching, before pointing below them, to the west. Kami nodded. "And what is he doing?"

"Practicing his…what did they call it? Oh, right. The Kamehameha."

"Can you describe where he is?"

"That's more your thing than mine. I'm learning energy sensing, not sight."

"Just try it, Bardock," Kami sighed. The two of them had been developing a tentative friendship over the past few weeks, though Kami felt it was born out of the fact that he was the only person Bardock could talk to more than anything.

"Uh…trees? He's in a forest?"

"Next to one. There is a river that runs through it. He is using the water to gauge the strength of his attack."

"So glad I know that now. Makes a big difference in my life." Kami bit back his response. Bardock tended to be far more irritable and snappish during his headaches, though the Guardian had a feeling the comment would've been made even without it.

"How strong would you say the attack is?"

"About…the strength Kakarot first used on Piccolo, in their first battle." Kami nodded.

"That's a fair assessment. Now, how about you tell me where Tien is?" Kami hurried to change the subject before Bardock thought too much about that first battle. It was still a sore spot between them.

"…Other side of the planet. He's just practicing his martial arts. No direct energy use."

"Yamcha?"

"In West City still…near Bulma. Not training right now. No wonder he lost to Tien so fast."

"Ro-"

"On his island with that Launch girl. And Kakarot is just coming up from the bathroom." The boy had taken to going down to Karin's tower to use it, before at first climbing-and now flying-back up.

On que, Kakarot unsteadily rose above the edge of the Lookout and landed as fast as he could, looking relieved he'd made it. "You're getting better," Mr. Popo said approvingly. "Next time, fly down as well as back up." Kakarot nodded, then asked,

"Isn't this just the Air Dance Tien used?"

"The difference is slight," Mr. Popo answered. "And easily overcome, even unconsciously, by its users. The Air Dance of the Crane School is more used to merely stop in the air, or float. What I am teaching you is free flight." Kakarot nodded, though Bardock doubted he fully understood. "Now then, let's go straight to energy sensing. Can you tell me where you friend Krillin is?"

Bardock smiled as they repeated the same ritual he and Kami had just gone through. Energy-sensing wasn't as precise as his scouter was-there was no scale to compare everyone to-but as Kami had demonstrated, both as an example of how to conceal your energy, and to show its benefits, power could be hidden, and the scouter couldn't find it. Nearly all of Earth's fighter did this, either unconsciously, on purpose, or, like himself and Kakarot, were currently learning how to control it. Right now, Bardock subconsciously kept all but about a third of his energy under wraps, needing more concentration to fully conceal it.

"Now then, shall we continue?" But as Kami spoke, Bardock felt a fresh wave of pain wash over him, and automatically lifted a hand to his head, wincing.

"Not today, Kami." Bardock decided. "Sorry, but I just-can't." Kami nodded his understanding.

"That's fine. I was thinking, maybe next week, we could test how well you can control yourself again. You've picked it up fast enough. If you pass, we can tell young Kakarot he's passed as well." Bardock lifted a hand to acknowledge Kami's statement. He lurched back toward what had more or less become his 'room' as the headache began to peak.

 _I'd kill for some alcohol. I really would._ _Give me something to kill._ The humans did have several forms of drinks, some even stronger than Saiyan brew, but Bardock had yet to taste any. Kami and Mr. Popo refused to steal any, and lacked money for them legally. As Bardock hadn't yet revealed himself to anyone other than Kami and Mr. Popo, he could hardly go and get some himself. Besides, as Kami had tactfully pointed out, there was the off-chance he would get too drunk and reveal himself, or worse, leave a bottle within Kakarot's reach. A tiny, drunk Saiyan was not something anyone needed. He threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes. He doubted he'd get any sleep until the pain passed. Despite what he told Kami, Bardock was sure he knew exactly why they were getting worse. He was changing the future, more and more each day. His headaches had started when he started looking for Kakarot. The more of Freeza's bases he'd sabotaged, the greater influence he had on Kakarot's training, the worse the headaches got. And he was only going to change more. If the trend continued, he'd soon be completely immobile during them.

 _Nothing for it but to power through._ Kami himself had said that this kind of training seemed to be better for Kakarot than what he originally had in mind. Kakarot had more energy than he knew what to do with. The same went for Bardock. He'd be able to fight much more effectively, against a wider array of opponents now. Controlling the force of his attacks to conserve energy and stamina, being able to hide his full strength, being able to sense his opponent's strength and weak points-all led to more intelligent and effective fighting. _Bring it on Dodoria._ He thought sleepily. _I'll crush you._ And then, to his faint surprise, he fell asleep.

* * *

A week later, he and Kami once again faced each other.

"You're sure?" Bardock asked. He, for once, was not.

"I'm sure it won't be like last time." Kami said calmly. "Remember, it is safe for me to test this." Bardock was holding down as much energy as he could. "But first…" Kami paused, and turned to look at Mr. Popo.

"Goku, come over here to the edge." They walked over to look down at the world.

"What is it?"

"Just remember." Mr. Popo said, not explaining himself whatsoever. "You're not allowed to use Kintoun."

"Eh? Is this a flying excercisEAAAAAAAHHH!" Faster than Kakarot could react, Mr. Popo hit him far away from the Lookout, plummeting toward the ground, desperately trying to collect his energy to fly.

"Uh…ok?" Bardock looked over at Kami.

"On the off-chance something goes wrong," The old man said, shrugging. "He'll be fine." Bardock grunted in agreement, and they resumed their stand-off.

They were still for several seconds, before Kami rushed forward, drawing his fist back to attack. Bardock did the same, making sure to use as little energy as possible. Their fists met-and then Kami skidded to a stop, bring up his other fist to hit Bardock's head. Bardock's relief did not distract him, and he brought up his free arm to block it. Kami jumped back, and then quickly jumped forward again with another punch. This time, Bardock caught his hand, holding it firmly, as he caught the other arm at the wrist and turned, throwing Kami toward the edge of the Lookout. The Guardian turned in the air, landing on his feet and skidding backwards to its edge, looking little the worse for wear. Knowing they had to go through the full motions of a spar, Bardock went on the offensive, throwing a punch at Kami's head, which he blocked, then switching to a kick at his stomach, which Kami managed to stop, locking the leg in place with both arms. Bardock flew upwards and pressed his free foot against Kami's chest, shoving him backwards and freeing his leg. The Guardian fell off the Lookout for only a few feet before righting himself, and flying back up to be on level with Bardock, panting.

"Excellent. I would advise avoiding going on the attack too much with Kakarot, but otherwise, you should be able to spar with him safely."

Bardock nodded, his relief evident. "I thought-well. It worked out." Kami landed on the Lookout, and after a moment's concentration, dropped his barrier.

"Tell Son Goku that he may now meet with me. Whenever he gets back up here." He called over to Mr. Popo, who nodded. The two of them began walking toward the building.

"Kami."

"Hmm?" The Guardian turned to look at him.

"Thank you. Really." Bardock rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I…don't say that a lot. But I do appreciate it." The old man smiled and nodded.

"I consider it an investment in the planet's future. Will you tell me why you're here?"

"Soon enough." Bardock turned and felt his son's returning energy. "But right now, we've got something else to do." And they both moved out of sight.

* * *

Goku was panting when he returned to the Lookout, before turning an accusing stare on Mr. Popo. "That was...dangerous! I could've…gotten…really hurt. Haa…" He had returned to the Lookout with as much speed as he could manage once he'd stopped his descent, but to his chagrin, he still couldn't fly very fast.

"I was confident you would be safe," Mr. Popo said. "Otherwise, I'd have been wasting my time this past month." Goku stretched, looking around. _Something's missing…_

And then he suddenly realized. "The barrier's gone!"

"Correct." Said Mr. Popo. "Kami decided that you were allowed to meet him sooner than planned. He wants to get a jump-start on your training."

"Really!?" Goku turned to the building. There was a presence he could sense there, and even from here, he could feel that it was stronger than him. "Woow..." he said in awe as he ran over there.

"It's nice to officially, meet you, Son Goku." A familiar voice said, before out of the shadows stepped-

"Piccolo! You're alive!"

"Ah, Goku, wait-" but Goku immediately dropped into a ready stance before leaping forward, ignoring Mr. Popo's warning. He got about halfway there before he felt an iron grip around his ankle, instantly halting his progress. He dropped, swinging upside down and looking up at what looked to be a big version of himself.

"Uh…"

"That's not Piccolo."

"It's not?"

"Nope."

"Oh." And he was let go. Unexpected as the release was, Goku didn't catch himself, and landed head-first onto the floor. "Ooow!" he said, holding his head as he rolled upright to stare as Piccolo's look alike and the strange man who had caught him.

"There's a reason I look like Piccolo." The older, green man said. "I am Kami. Piccolo and I actually used to be one being, but we split long ago."

"Oh…" Goku said, digesting that. "So…you're a good guy?"

"Yes." Kami said, smiling.

Goku shrugged. "Ok." Kami looked a little taken aback by the sudden acceptance.

Goku turned toward the other man. Even aside from the fact that he looked like his reflection in a mirror (like Bulma had shown him), there was something else familiar about him, that he couldn't quite place.

"Who are you?" he asked, standing upright. The man shifted uncomfortably, looking at Kami, who seemed amused by it.

"Do you really expect me to do this part for you?"

He sighed, then squatted down to look Goku in the eyes. "You know you're not human, right?" Goku blinked, and moved his tail in front of him.

"I…guess I'm not. Humans don't have tails."

"No." And for the first time, Goku noticed the man's own tail, as he unwrapped from his waist, also holding it up in front of him. "But we do." He pressed his tail to Goku's chest. "My name is Bardock." He said softly. "And I'm your father." 

**If I seem somewhat inconsistent with the English and Japanese names for things, it's because I am. No excuse. I start typing "Shenlong" about 50% of the time when I'm referring to the dragon, and I barely talk about him. My self-edit is focused on misspellings and grammar errors, not translation errors. Also, I lied a little bit in the last note, I am actually going to split up the Lookout time into two chapters in order to give it the attention I think it deserves. (Otherwise we'd be sitting with a 10,000 word+ chapter. And that would just be a pain to try and edit.) This first chapter is more Bardock-centered, as per usual, the next will be told mostly from Goku's point of view for the first time.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: A Father's Training**

 **So the flip-side of these chapters being more or less the start of my actual original content in this story and the start of deviation from canon comes the question that, without the already well-loved events of the manga as a crutch, does my writing suffer? As such I would just like to say thank you so much for the positive support. I really appreciate it and am glad that some of you like what I am doing, with my writing and the story.**

"But my name's Goku!" He said for about the 50th time. Bardock let out an irritated sigh, closing his eyes and praying for patience.

"I _know_ that. You said that your Grandpa Gohan told you that you hit your head as child, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when you did that, you lost all your memories, so you couldn't remember your name. _He_ gave you the name Goku. _Kakarot_ is the name your mother and I gave you when you were first born."

"My mother?" Goku asked, distracted. Kami, who had been standing a respectful distance away with Mr. Popo, looked over curiously at the question. Bardock had yet to mention her. The older Saiyan looked away, evidently not wanting to answer. The father and son were currently sitting on the steps to the Sanctuary, as Bardock attempted to explain Kakarot's heritage to him.

"She's…gone," He finally said.

"Oh."

Goku had accepted that Bardock was his father easily enough, a kind of instinctive recognition he trusted. What he was troubled with was his name.

No, not his alien warrior father or the return of the demon Piccolo or _even_ the fact that his father was evidently friends with the Guardian of the Planet. No, all he was questioning was his name.

"Look." Bardock said, attempting a compromise. "I don't expect you to stop calling yourself Goku. I don't expect your friends to either. But _I named you Kakarot_. I'm not calling you something else." Kakarot frowned, considering for a moment.

"So…you're the only that's going to call me that?"

Bardock grit his teeth in frustration. "…Unless we meet another Saiyan, yes."

"Saiyan?" Bardock sighed, mentally preparing himself to do a _lot_ of explaining.

If he was being honest with himself, it wasn't surprising he wasn't human. He hadn't known any better at first, but he had a real, re-growing tail, and nobody else did. Of course, Tien had 3 eyes and Krillin was a dwarf, so they weren't quite 'normal' either, but Yamcha was. And he didn't have a tail. He was also sure that Bardock wasn't lying. He couldn't quite put a finger on why, but he believed everything the man told him. Which was confusing. His father? He had a father? What did that mean? Bardock said he had a mother too, only she was gone. He knew that meant she was dead. Why was she dead and he was alive and here? Where had he been this whole time? What were you even supposed to do with a father?

"Kakarot." It took him a moment, lost in thought, to realize Bardock was talking to him. "Kakarot?" He said again, impatient.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry I forgot." Bardock closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, before continuing.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to spar."

Goku blinked, before grinning. "Really? Yeah! Are you really strong?" Bardock gave him a slight smile, looking a little taken aback by the question.

"Well, are you?" He asked in response.

"Huh? Uh, well, yeah, I think so. I did beat Piccolo after all."

Bardock's smile widened. "I know. I was watching."

"You were? I didn't see you."

"I know. But I was there for the whole thing. The tournament too. You did well." The praise meant more than it should, considering he had only just met the man.

"Well, what about you? I can't-huh. I can't feel any energy coming from you." He frowned. He thought he had been getting good at energy sensing.

"I'm keeping it all under wraps," Bardock said, winking at him. Goku didn't understand, which Bardock apparently seemed to realize. He sighed. "I have to keep it all contained. Otherwise I could accidentally do some damage. The stronger you get, the more you'll understand. It gets easy to accidentally break things." Bardock suddenly looked uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot and glancing over to Kami, who had stepped forward.

"Goku, you are aware of the difference in strength between you and I, correct?" Goku was quiet, concentrating on feeling the Guardians power. Kami had left himself unguarded, his full power apparent to him. He dwarfed Goku.

"Wow…"

Kami smiled. "It's not all as it seems. I am old. I cannot move or fight to match my energy. But Bardock," he turned toward the older Saiyan, who was standing, arms crossed, waiting for the conversation to end. "Bardock is my better, Goku." He felt his eyes widen. "And not just stronger. Worlds beyond me. Galaxies. If he were at his full power-well, you'd have had to become a real expert at sensing energy to even feel me there."

"Thanks for the endorsement." Bardock grunted. Goku didn't know the word 'endorsement', but gathered the meaning from the tone. He turned to Bardock.

"So, you're really, _really_ strong?"

The older man gave him that little half-smile again. "Yes Kakarot, I'm _really_ strong. Do you want to spar, or not?"

"Yes!" He bounded out into the middle of the Lookout and turned, dropping into a ready stance.

Bardock walked out after him, looking amused. "Alright," He called. "Come on." He didn't assume a stance.

"Uh…are you sure? You're not-"

"I'm just fine. Show me what you can do."

 _Remember_. Goku told himself. _Kami said he's way stronger than either of us. So I have to fight smart._ He tensed, and then rushed forward, before vanishing behind the still Bardock, turning on his heel and jumping to punch the back of his head. He never actually _saw_ Bardock turn and grab him, but he was jerked away from his target and was suddenly dangling in front of the man.

"Neat trick. What's it called?"

"Ah…uh…it's an…afterimage."

"Huh." Bardock gently tossed him backwards. The moment he touched ground he jumped off again, raining punches down at Bardock. The man barely seemed to move, swaying back and forth as he dodged all of the punches. Suddenly, he stopped, and one of Goku's punch's landed. He was so surprised he didn't follow it up-not that it seemed to matter, as Bardock didn't so much as blink at the blow. Goku felt a hand on his chest, and looked down just as Bardock pushed. He flew backwards, actually bouncing off the Lookout once, and twisting to land on all fours the next time he came down. Even so, he skidded all the to the edge.

"Ow! Ow ow ow…" He shook his hands. The friction hadn't been kind to them.

"Alright?" Bardock asked, a faint note of concern in his voice as he slowly walked over towards him.

"Yeah…" he muttered, defeated.

Bardock raised an eyebrow at the tone. "Wanna keep going?"

"What's the point? That's just-you're just-it's impossible! How are you so strong?"

"Practice. Experience. A much longer life than you've lived." Bardock offered him a hand, which Goku accepted. The man idly checked Goku's palms before patting the top of his hands in a 'you're fine' kind of gesture.

"I don't know how I could possibly get that strong."

Bardock considered him. "Kakarot, do you believe I'm your father?"

"Huh? Yeah."

"And that means you're my son."

"Uh-huh…" Goku wondered where he was going with this. "

Then what are you worried about? There's nothing I can do right now that you won't one day be able to do as well. I've just lived longer, is all."

Goku digested that. It was true, he reasoned. If he really was Bardock's son, and Bardock could do all that, he should be able to as well. But doubt still nagged at him. "Other Saiyans-when they were the same age as me, were they any stronger?"

Bardock paused, thinking through his answer. "In terms of power? Yes. But you fight smarter." Apparently, Bardock could read the confusion on his face. "We're Saiyans. Just getting power? That's easy. Using it is what's hard. I know of only two Saiyans, ever, who could sense energy. Know who they are?" Goku shook his head. "It's you and me. I've been learning this at the same time you were. While Mr. Popo was teaching you out here, Kami was teaching me on the other side of the barrier."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And even more important than that…" Bardock leaned down, reaching past Goku. To his surprise, he felt Bardock grab his tail.

"What are you doing?"

Bardock let go and straightened back up, grinning down at him. "I have _never_ known a Saiyan your age to _not_ go limp when someone grabs their tail. That is, perhaps, the one great weakness of our race. And you fixed it all on your own."

He hadn't thought of it that way. "Our one weakness?"

"Physically speaking, yes. Most Saiyans tend to rush into battle without thinking, which can have serious consequences, but the tail is the only natural weak point we have. We're tougher than most other races, like humans, and we're natural born warriors. You remember me telling you why you always felt stronger after a defeat?" Goku nodded. "And you've always had a knack for fighting." He nodded again. "Like I said: power is easy for us. So long as you know what to do with it, you'll be as strong as me one day. Stronger, even."

He felt his eyes widen. "Really?"

There was something sad in Bardock's smile this time. "Yeah," He said. "Stronger.

Suddenly, he clapped his hands together. "Now then! Let's get started." He turned and began walking back towards the center of the Lookout. "One thing I want to make sure of-you need to get more comfortable using energy. That trick with the Kamehameha you pulled with Piccolo was good, but-what is it?"

A question had occurred to him. "Um…I was just wondering…" Bardock stopped, looking down at him expectantly. "…What should I call you?" Bardock stared at him blankly for several seconds. "I mean, it's just that I've heard the way Bulma talked to _her_ dad and she was kinda rude and I didn't want to be rude but I don't really know what to-"

"Kakarot."

"Yeah?"

"You're babbling."

"Oh." He could feel himself turning red.

"Call me whatever you want." Bardock said.

He wasn't sure what to do with that. He still wasn't even sure what having a father meant. Would it be like Grandpa Gohan? Bardock wasn't anything like Grandpa had been, but it was kind of the same situation, right? They'd be living together, training together. Bardock seemed to like him, and he was _so_ strong. "Ok…Dad." The word sounded strange to him, but it wasn't bad. Bardock seemed frozen for a moment. Then a more genuine smile than Goku had seen him give previously touched his face. His hand abruptly came down on top of Goku's head, ruffling his hair. Goku's hands shot up and grabbed his head as the offending hand moved away. "What?..." Bardock had started walking again.

"Come on son." He said. "Let's get to work." Goku stared at him for a moment, before hurrying to catch up, grinning.

* * *

"My rooms right across the hall if you need anything." Bardock told him.

"Ok." He tried-and failed-to suppress a yawn. Bardock ruffled his hair again. _I guess I'm going to have to get used to that._

"Need sleep?" His father asked, amused.

"I don't need to sleep right now!" Goku said, a little defensive.

"Oh? Well then, come here. I've got something to show you." Goku blinked. He really _did_ need sleep, but he could hardly say so now. He followed Bardock into his room. He gestured to the bed, which Goku hopped on. It was soft. After a moment of searching, Bardock turned back to him, holding a device in his hand. "Remember me telling you no other Saiyans knew how to sense energy?" Goku nodded, examining the object. "This is a scouter. It's what we used instead. Come here." Goku scooted over and Bardock leaned behind him, fixing the device onto his ear. "It goes over one eye, and when you press this button…" He heard a beep, and then the noise of the machine coming to life. Bardock pointed upwards, and Goku looked. He could see, through the floor, a green outline of Kami, along with several numbers next to him. Most were zeroes, only 3 of the digits were different.

"Wow…" he said.

"The numbers are a visual representation of his energy," Bardock told him. Goku looked around. The scouter first locked onto Mr. Popo, but he found it extended all the back down to Earth. He could find Krillin's energy, and Tien's.

"So everyone wore these?" he asked, still looking around.

"Whenever we were active. They were the best we could do. Even so, they can be fooled, and they can't tell us what special powers an enemy might have."

Goku could feel himself falling asleep. He fumbled with the scouter before Bardock gently swatted his hand away and pressed the button again. The scouter turned off. Goku let out another massive yawn, which earned a chuckle from his father.

"I thought you didn't need sleep?" He asked.

"I don't…" He could barely get the words out. Training with Bardock was quite a bit harder than when Mr. Popo had trained him. There was no reason not to go all out in everything they did, whether it was flying, firing energy blasts, or just going through fighting forms. Seeing how effortless it was for his Dad only spurred him to try even harder. He could feel himself drifting off. Bardock had ended up sitting behind him while he had been adjusting the scouter. He was dimly aware of his head falling on his father's knee, before he was asleep.

* * *

Bardock stared down at his son. Kakarot had just fallen asleep in his lap, scouter and dirty work-out clothes still on. Yet a smile wouldn't stay off his face. He certainly wasn't going to wake him. He reached over and grabbed a pillow, propping it against the wall and leaning back against it, one arm idly wrapping around Kakarot to make sure he wouldn't roll of the bed. He looked up at the ceiling. _Is this what you wanted me to be, Gine? Where you wanted me?_ He'd been doing his best not to think of her, trying to focus on Kakarot, but here he was, his youngest son in his lap, looking for her. _I know this would make you happy. He called me 'Dad,' believe it or not. And he's only known me for a day! I know I never really gave Raditz the chance…but I'm trying. I'll do everything I can to teach him and keep him safe, I promise. For you. For him. For us._

* * *

"Hello."

"WAAH!" Bulma actually tripped over the edge of the little garden, landing right on her ass as the dirt she'd been scrapping flew everywhere, along with the trowel. "Ow…"

"Are you alright?"

"NO! NO I'M NOT! WHAT WERE YOU-oh! Oh! You're that man who delivered the Dragon Balls!"

"Call me Mr. Popo." He hopped off his carpet and turned around, picking a dirty, battered piece of what looked to be a green chest piece. "Young Goku speaks highly of your scientific abilities." Bulma stood up, wiping the dirt from herself and blushing.

"Well, yeah, after all, I am the daughter of-"

"Kami has a request of you." _Oh, so it's gonna be like that, huh?_ But she forgot her annoyance as the full import of what he had just said hit her.

" _Kami_ has a request of me?"

"Yes." He held out the armor, which she took. "He asks that you see if it possible to replicate this. If you can, he asks that you make one as exact a replica as possible, and another in a size for Goku." She examined the piece.

"One's for Goku? Who's the other one for?" He ignored the question.

"It is not made of materials from Earth, so we are unsure if it can be recreated. It was in Kami's judgement, however, that is if could be done, you were the one who could do it." It annoyed her that he wasn't answering her questions, and the last statement had brought forth several more, but she was far too overwhelmed by the confidence placed in her by _Kami himself_.

"Of course! I'll get to work on it right away. Even if I can't duplicate it, I'm sure I can learn a lot just by studying something from another planet."

"Please make sure that the original is not damaged in your study."

"Of course!"

Mr. Popo stepped back up onto the carpet. "I will return in one month. If you can successfully create more sets, you will be allowed to accompany me and deliver them in person. Any questions you have, you may ask at the Lookout." And he disappeared.

* * *

It took Bulma two months to successfully create a matching set of armor. It was apparent to her, through her studies, that it was _definitely_ armor. She didn't think anything on Earth could do more than scuff it. It was no wonder Kami wanted more of it. She'd never been quite so motivated to finish a project in her life, even finding the Dragon Balls- _Get to see Goku, visit Kami's Lookout, even just the brag of successfully duplicating alien armor-_ and it quite annoyed her she had to miss the original deadline, though she had enough to prove to Mr. Popo she _could_ get it done. It was an incredible experience, and at the end, she added two jumpsuits to go under the armor. She'd had her suspicions from the design, and Mr. Popo had confirmed that there seemed to be something commonly worn underneath it. She made the jumpsuits out of the same special elastic the armor was comprised of. It offered virtually none of the protections the armor did, but would stretch and grow with the rest of it. _Why_ the suit needed to be so elastic she had no idea, but she supposed she would find out soon enough.

Mr. Popo had arrived again, declared the armor and jumpsuits satisfactory, and allowed her onto the carpet with them, in capsule form. The carpet was unbelievably fast, and before she knew it, they were at the Lookout. Looking down was dizzying. _Just how high up are we? Those are clouds down there!_ "Did you ever see Piccolo?" Mr. Popo asked suddenly.

"Huh? Uh…yeah, a glimpse. On TV."

"Then you should know that Kami and Piccolo are very similar in appearance. The being up here is Kami, not Piccolo."

"O-oh. Ok. Thanks for the warning." They landed on the Lookout and Bulma gratefully stepped off the carpet. She saw, on the other side of the Lookout, someone who did indeed look like an old Piccolo standing in wait. But he wasn't watching her. His eyes were trained on the sky. She turned to Mr. Popo, confused. He simply pointed upward, not saying anything. She looked up, unable to see anything. Then, faintly, there was a yell. Then silence. "I can't-" there was an abrupt flash, and Goku came plummeting of the air, stopping his descent several feet above the Lookout, turning to face back where he had come from, his hands brought back, energy building up between them.

"Ka-me-ha-me…"

"Is he fighting someone? Who is he fighting?" Her voice came out louder than intended with fright, but, apparently hearing, Goku stopped, the energy dying in his hands as he turned to look at her.

"Bulma!" he said excitedly, diving out of the air towards her faster than she'd ever seen the Crane students move during the last tournament. "Hey!" he said excitedly, hugging her in mid-air, accidentally picking her up off the ground a little bit.

"Hi Goku! Um, weren't you-"

"Kakarot, what are you doing? Put her down!" Goku only now seemed to realize he had picked her up, and let her down gently, looking sheepish. They both looked up toward the new speaker as he descended down towards them. He was wearing what looked like a ragged, well-fitting jumpsuit. There was a tail wrapped around his waist, and his face-

He looked like an older Goku.

Her jaw dropped as she made the connection. The man caught her expression and seemed amused, before turning back to Goku, who had floated over to him. "Sorry Dad, I just got excited." He put a hand on Goku's head and gently pushed him back down to the ground. He complied. Goku's father turned back to her.

"Yeah, it doesn't take a lot of brain power to make that connection, does it?" He asked, walking over to her, Goku trailing slightly behind him.

She shook her head numbly. "It's like a before-and-after picture." Her voice was faint.

"My name's Bardock." He held out a hand, which she accepted. "Thanks for looking after my son all these years."

"He looked out for me more, I think."

"I think not." Bardock laughed. "Just imagine the messes he would've gotten himself into if you _hadn't_ been there. Besides, everyone needs a friend." This time his smile was more genuine, even grateful. She felt herself blushing.

"So, I hear you're a genius." The question was phrased as a statement, and she dug into her pocket, proudly producing the capsules.

"You heard right!" She first threw the one which contained the original, which evidently belonged to Bardock. She had cleaned it before putting it away, so it looked almost new when it burst from the capsule. "Here, we have the original. And here…" She threw the other two to either side of the original. "Perfect copies!" Bardock walked over to the one in his size-She'd kept the green color, though Goku's was blue-and picked it up, examining it.

"You even included the suit," He said, impressed.

"Nothing but top quality products from me." After months of hard labor, she felt she'd earned the right to preen.

"This one's in my size!" Goku said excitedly, examining the blue one. "Go put the jumpsuit on." Bardock said. "I'll show you how to do the armor-INSIDE!" Goku froze, about to pull the top of his Gi off. Slowly, he lowered his arm, then grabbed the jumpsuit and took off for the interior of the Lookout as fast as he could, his face beet red.

Bardock shook his head. "At least you stopped him." Bulma said, not surprised. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I take it he's done that before?"

"We had to buy him a new Gi once. And…yeah." Bardock pulled on his old set of armor, testing the straps briefly, before pulling it off and grabbing the new one.

"Thanks for doing this."

"I take you're the one who asked for this, not Kami?" The old man had followed Goku inside, and Mr. Popo was nowhere to be seen. She didn't remember him leaving.

"Yeah. Kakarot suggested you right away, but it was Kami naming you I took seriously."

She laughed. "Glad to know I'm so highly regarded. Where have you been?"

Bardock paused before answering. "I got here during the last Budokai. I watched his fights at the tournament and with Piccolo alongside Kami, and I've been training up here with Kakarot ever since."

"Kakarot?"

"His birth name. He forgot it along with everything else when he got here."

"So Goku is an alien?"

"We're from a race called the Saiyans. This armor, the way it stretches?" He cut off, turning to check behind them. She realized he was checking for Goku. His voice was lower when he spoke next. "Well…you were there for his transformations, weren't you?"

 _Oh._ They were not fond memories. "Does that mean…it can be controlled?" Bardock again paused before answering.

"It wasn't…important to most. If destruction is the original goal, why worry about what you destroy?" She considered the question. It made sense, from a purely theoretical perspective. The moral implications were a little more frightening. "It's possible to control yourself as an Oozaru. Just hard."

"That's the name?"

"I got it on!" They turned to see Goku running back out toward them. Both knew, without having to say it, that this was not a conversation to have where he could hear.

Bulma was little more than an observer for the rest of her visit, watching Bardock help Goku put the armor on, and showing him how to do it himself. There was a fondness with the way he treated him that Bulma doubted Goku noticed. By what Bardock said, he'd only been on Earth for about 6 months, but the two were obviously close. She spoke briefly with Kami, promised not to repeat anything she'd learned here, and was given a new project: a device to be worn on the eye called a 'scouter.' Bardock said it could be used to sense energy levels, something they didn't particularly need anymore, but thought they might as well give her to do with as she wished. She stepped back onto Mr. Popo's carpet-seriously, _where_ had he been?- and was whisked back to Earth.

* * *

"I'm impressed at how far he's come along." Bardock didn't have to ask Kami who he meant.

"You were right that I needed to learn how to hold back though. I can't believe I almost went right to it." The two of them had taken to talking outside on the Lookout, while the sun was setting, after Kakarot had gone to sleep.

"You've done admirably. I can tell that it grates on you to hold back all the time." Bardock shrugged.

"Not for forever. He'll catch up." Kami merely nodded in agreement.

"Was there something you wanted to ask?" Kami was clearly agitating over something.

"Yes…it's about your tail."

Bardock frowned, before making the connection. "The transformation?"

"The Dragon Balls will be active again in a week. I was going to have Mr. Popo go collect them. We need the moon back."

"How have you been coping without it?"

Kami gave him a dark look. "It's been…very taxing. One of the few Guardian duties I have been active in." Bardock nodded. "If memory serves, you said you can control yourself in that transformation?"

"I can. It's not easy, but I do know how to."

"What about your son? To be honest, I had planned on permanently removing his tail when he first got here."

Bardock waved a hand at that. "Not necessary. Just…get me a calendar with all the full moons on them. I can take him to an unpopulated place ahead of time and work with him on it." Bardock blew out a heavy sigh. "I just hate having to tell him who the monster that killed his Grandpa really was." Kami nodded sadly.

* * *

"So, why are we leaving the Lookout?" Kakarot asked.

"I told you, I've got some special training for us to do."

"Yeah, but you didn't tell what it is." His tone was plaintive.

"I'll tell you when we get there."

"Well are we there yet?"

"We get there when we get there!"

"But when is-"

" _Do not make me turn around!"_

* * *

"There's nothing here."

"That's the idea," Bardock said as they landed in the empty canyon. "This way we won't cause any damage."

"Ooooh. What are we doing?" Bardock sighed. _This isn't going to be fun._

"It's a full moon out tonight."

"It is?"

"…Kakarot." Bardock turned to him, voice and expression serious. "What did you say happened to your grandfather?" "

Huh? Oh, a big monster stepped on him." Bardock was silent, and he could see Kakarot growing nervous. "Why? He said it came out during the full moon-oh! Are we going to fight it?" There was a long pause.

"No, Kakarot. We're going to become it."

The boy clearly didn't understand. Or maybe, by his expression, he didn't _want_ to understand. Bardock dropped to one knee and rested a hand on his son's shoulder.

"When Saiyans with intact tails look at a full moon, they transform into what we call an 'Oozaru', or Great Ape. It's a powerful, beast-like transformation. And when we're young, and untrained, we have no control over ourselves in that form."

Kakarot was shaking slightly. "So…the beast that destroyed the arena…and Pilaf's castle…A-and…that killed Grandpa…that was all me?"

"I'm sorry, Kakarot." He looked he wasn't sure whether to cry or not, but Bardock pulled him close anyway. After a moment, Kakarot wrapped his arms around Bardock. The shaking had gotten worse, but there were still no tears.

"Just remember, it's not your fault," Bardock murmured. "You didn't know, and you didn't have any memory of when it happened before. Besides," Bardock held him out at arm's length. "Didn't you say you got to talk to him recently?"

Kakarot sniffed, and nodded. "Yeah. He was brought back to life for a single day in order to be the last of 5 opponents I had to fight in order to get Master Roshi's sister to tell me where the last Dragon Ball was."

Bardock stared at him for a moment. "I think I've been on this planet for too long, because I actually understood most of that." Kakarot let out a hiccupy laugh and wiped his eyes. "The important thing is, he was happy, right? He was peaceful, he didn't blame you at all." Slowly, Kakarot nodded. "And since then, it hasn't done any harm. It's even saved your friends before." Again, he nodded.

"But what about now? Won't I transform tonight? What If I hurt you?" Bardock laughed and ruffled his hair.

Standing up straight, he said, "You'd have to be quite the ape to do any damage to me, even if I didn't transform. But don't worry. He swished his tail around. "I'll be changing too." Kakarot nodded, reassured. Bardock caught him touching his hair, but decided not to say anything. "It's also why this armor is important. Normal clothing would tear apart as we changed, but this armor grows with us."

"Oh," Kakarot said, tugging on a should strap. "That's why it's so stretchy."

"Yup." Bardock began walking, and Kakarot hurried to keep pace.

"One of the most important things to remember is that you are _going_ to transform. This doesn't help a whole lot the first couple of times because what you try and do is set yourself in the mindset of what it's like to be the beast. You haven't been conscious during it yet."

"The mindset of the beast?"

"Even when you're consciously in control during your transformation, you can't fully overcome the heightened instincts. We all become a little…beast-like. More aggressive, less compassionate-though to be honest, compassion was never a Saiyan virtue." He paused to look at Kakarot. "But it is important to us. So it's something you have to remember." The boy nodded. "That heightened instinct does have one advantage however. Teaching how to control the Oozaru form is actually traditionally done in the family, because even in the midst of that first madness, children can recognize their parents. Like how you knew I was telling you the truth when I said I was your father." Again, Kakarot nodded.

* * *

"Alright," Bardock called, "Once the cloud cover passes you'll be able to see it." They were standing on opposite stone pillars. Even from here, Bardock could tell Kakarot was sweating and shaking. "Remember, I'll be here. Nothing bad is going to happen." Kakarot nodded, and looked to the sky. Bardock looked as well. The cloud passed. It really was a beautiful moon. It shouldn't have to be destroyed again. He felt his heart rate pick up, a pounding in his head. His blood started to boil and he felt his muscles bunch up before growing. His hands started to darken as rough hair sprouted.

He _hated_ it. Hated the transformation, hated the form, hated the whole affair of having to be ready to fight if he ever wanted to look at a full moon. His first response to the idea that Kami could've taken away the tails for good had been _take both of ours, please!_ But he hadn't said that. It wasn't a weapon they could afford to lose. The Oozaru wasn't as fast as a non-transformed Saiyan, but the difference was slight, especially in comparison to the massive power boost. Scouters had recorded up to a 10x increase in terms of sheer power. It was the only way he could ever hope to one-day harm Frieza.

Then the transformation was done. He was large, bulky, altogether uncomfortable and a little pissed other. Then Kakarot blew up one of the stone pillars and he remembered what he was doing. He turned and leaped over to the rampaging boy, grabbing a wild thrown fist and grabbing the other wrist, immobilizing him. Bringing their faces close together, he bellowed, "KAKAROT!" They struggled, briefly. Kakarot's Oozaru had incredible strength, but much like their non-transformed selves, he couldn't hope to hurt Bardock. Slowly, the beast calmed and met Bardock's eyes. A glimmer of reason began to appear in them. _Damn Kakarot, but you are amazing._ This was, as he understood it, the 5th time Kakarot had ever transformed. And yet, here he was, calm. It was a first, as far as Bardock knew.

"Dad? Are we-what's wrong with my voice?"

Bardock released his grip and stepped back. "Vocal chords get longer like this. All Oozaru are the same size, regardless of age or gender. And we all kinda sound the same."

Kakarot looked at his hands. "So…we're the same height?"

"Don't even start, Kakarot."

"Well…what now?"

"Honestly I wasn't expecting to get anything done tonight. It's amazing that you already have control of yourself."

"It is?"

"I was almost 5 years older than you are now when I managed it. And I was young."

"Wow." There were extenuating circumstances, of course. Many families never bothered training to control their Oozaru forms. And even those that did chose when to begin teaching, there wasn't a set age for it. Still, Kakarot's feat was impressive. It had taken Bardock a full year to get where his son was now. "The armor really did grow with us." Kakarot said.

"Yes. Your friend really is amazing." Kakarot nodded vigorously. The sight of a Great Ape doing such a thing was rather comical. "Well," Bardock said. "We aren't going to sleep like this, and our bodies will still benefit from training done as Oozaru. Might as well start getting used to that body, Kakarot."

They sat together later, on one of the few unbroken stone pillars, watching the sun rise. Kakarot lay flat-out, panting heavily. Bardock was sitting up, arm over a knee. "Just so you know, if you ever have children, you're going to have to do this with them yourself." Kakarot painfully pulled himself up into a sitting position, a faint look of concern.

"Well, you'll be there to help, right?"

Bardock smiled. "Of course I will, Kakarot." The boy had fallen flat out again, and didn't seem to have the energy to get back up. He managed a sleepy "good" before falling asleep. _Must be nice._ Bardock thought, looking at his son's chest rise and fall evenly. _To be able to fall asleep so easily._ But this was hardly a good place to go to sleep.

* * *

Goku was dimly aware of a faint up-and-down motion, and the quiet drum of shoes of floor. He cracked his eyes open and realized that Bardock was carrying him, piggy-back style, down to their rooms in the Lookout. He suppressed a yawn, settling himself, before quickly falling back asleep. It was comfortable, after all.

* * *

It wasn't the first time Kami had told him that Bardock couldn't train today. All he'd been told was that his father got headaches. He wasn't sure he believed it. Headaches? That make it so he can't leave his room all day? It was getting harder and harder to train with Mr. Popo, even Kami. His father was the only one he could safely go all out against, and curiosity was getting the better of him.

The door was open. He looked in and saw Bardock laying on his bed, his hands covering his face. He entered the room cautiously. "Dad?" There was silence for a moment, before the muffled response.

"Not today Kakarot. I already told you."

"What's the matter?" He crossed the room.

"I said no, Kakarot. Leave."

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"I already did. I get headaches. _Leave._ " Despite the danger in his father's tone, Goku felt stubbornness set-in.

"How is a headache this bad? Why don't you-" He was completely blindsided by Bardock's roar.

"I SAID GET OUT!" He swiped a hand blindly-and that was Goku's first taste of his father's real power. The wind pressure created by the swing scattered belongings everywhere and sent him sailing across the room. He would've crashed into the wall if Bardock hadn't flashed across the room and caught him. As things settled, Goku remained frozen, the back of his head against his father's chest, his shoulders being held by slightly shaking hands. Bardock's panting was the only noise in the room as he slowly turned and placed him outside. The door closed, and Goku heard something break shortly afterwards.

He remained frozen for several minutes, staring at the closed door. He wasn't sure what amazed him more; the strength Bardock had shown with the wind, the speed with which he had caught him, or the fear he felt at just how much pain those headaches caused his father. Slowly, he picked himself up off the floor, and brushed himself off. He looked at his gloved hands. He was wearing matching boots, part of the armor Bulma had made for him. Armor like his Dads. Slowly, he turned, and walked back out to the Lookout. His desire to get stronger was more intense than ever.

 **Do I use too many hyphens? I feel like I use too many hyphens. (- These little guys. -)**

 **So perhaps it was a little misleading to say 'primarily' from Goku's perspective this chapter. Would've been more accurate to say 'new' perspectives or something like that. So, I've decided to stop making promises about the content of chapters I haven't written yet.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Kakarot enters the World Tournament**

 **Though he still wrote down the name 'Goku'. Thinking of chapter names is hard, especially since I've already done a Budokai chapter. Did you guys get the point of the title? Am I clever?**

 **Also, just to clear up a question I've been asked a few times, this story is intended to mirror canon. That means the story arcs and pairings are like in canon. Sorry for the people who wanted other hook-ups, but all pairings are canon pairings in this story.**

It was raining as Roshi walked alongside the Budokai boundaries, Launch kindly holding an umbrella up for both of them. He checked his watch, as Launch asked, "Have our friends not arrived yet?" As if on que, a taxi pulled up nearby, and out of it stepped Bulma.

"Oh, hey! It's been a while!" She waved at them as she hurried over, Oolong and Puar next to her. "The others aren't here yet?"

Roshi was too busy hurrying around her to answer. "Even sexier than-ARG!"

"Squeeze your own ass!"

"Hasn't…changed."

"You haven't either." She grumbled.

He turned his attention to Puar. "if you're here-where's Yamcha?" It was Bulma who answered.

"Oh, he left us to go off and train." He looked at her, a little surprised. "What?" she asked.

"Well I just…thought you'd be more upset." She waved a dismissive hand.

"I've been really busy too. He wanted to get stronger, I don't mind."

"What have you been busy with?" Launch asked politely.

"Oh, it's been _fascinating._ I'll tell you all about it after the tournament." Roshi shot a glance at Oolong, who held up a hand.

"Don't ask me. She won't even let me in her lab."

"I had to set traps." Bulma sounded annoyed. "Thankfully, he's really easy to bait."

Oolong rubbed a spot on his head in memory. "Totally worth it."

The rain stopped, and they all shook off and put away their umbrellas. "Where is everyone? Surely they didn't forget?" Bulma asked.

"Yo!" They turned to see Krillin, raising a hand in greeting. Next to him stood Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu. "We met at the door." Krillin said. They took a second to remove their rain gear, Tien respectfully nodding to Roshi.

"Well?" Yamcha said. "Say something!"

"Ho…you all look like you've grown." Roshi said, walking over to inspect them.

See, Master? I'm taller now, right? He he he…"

"Yeah, sure Krillin," Roshi said, his tone making his opinion clear.

Krillin slumped, disappointed. "I'm always gonna be the short one."

"What does that make Chiaotzu?" Yamcha asked, laughing.

"Hey!"

Tien looked around. "So the only one we're missing is Goku? Where is he?"

"Oh he'll be here," Bulma said confidently. "No way he'd be allowed to miss this."

Yamcha gave her a curious look. "Allowed? You mean, Kami would make him enter?"

"Uh, er, yeah. To test him, you know." They were all looking at her funny now, since she was a terrible liar. Thankfully, she was interrupted by a voice from above.

"Hey guys!" They looked up to see someone flying down toward them. Around them, people let out shocked gasps and cries. The man landed in the middle of the little group, looking around. "Aw man, am I the last one to get here?" He crossed his arms, looking disappointed. "Knew we should've left earlier…" he muttered.

"Goku!" Bulma walked over to him, the only not currently in shock at his appearance. "You got taller!" He rubbed the back of his head, laughing.

"Yeah, I did!"

"And now you look just like-uh, what I thought you would like when you were older! Haha…ha…" Goku looked at her, uncomprehending. She turned red and looked away.

"Goku?" Krillin said, disbelieving.

"That's my name! Well, it's my-ow!" He turned to look at Bulma, who had just 'accidentally' hit him with her umbrella. The others were distracted from the strange scene the two of them were putting on by Krillin suddenly hugging Goku.

"I missed you! I wanted to thank you!" Goku looked entirely unsure how to react to this, patting him awkwardly on the head.

"Uh, Goku," Tien said, stepping forward as Krillin regained control over himself. "Was that the Air Dance?"

"Huh? No, that was just flying." Tien looked confused, and it was Yamcha who asked the next question.

"Why were you flying? We all walked." Goku shrugged.

"Uh…I dunno. Guess I've just gotten used to flying everywhere." "

But where did you even learn how to fly?"

"Oh, that reminds me!" Goku said suddenly, ignoring the question. He turned to Roshi. "Master, there was somebody I wanted you to meet!"

"Huh? Me?"

"Yeah!" And without any further explanation, he grabbed Roshi's arm and took off, weaving through the crowd while dragging the protesting old man along. Soon, they were out of sight. Bulma giggled, and the others turned to look at her, now sure she knew something important that she did not. Rather than attempt to explain herself, she just smiled and turned away.

"Come on! You guys need to go get in line, and we need to find good seats."

* * *

"Goku! Let go! Where are we going?" He got the impression that his protests were falling on deaf ears, but they were starting to draw away from the stadium. Goku suddenly paused in a nearly abandoned intersection, Roshi panting at the effort of trying to keep up. "Will you please tell me why-" But then Goku abruptly turned right down a dead-end alley. He stopped at the end of it, now out of sight from street, and Roshi bent double, panting.

"Geez, Kakarot, did you just drag him all the way here?"

"Umm…"

He looked up. _Oh no, my eyesight's going._ He was seeing double. He was seeing a _very good_ double too, the only differences being a slightly darker shade of skin, a scar on his cheek, and what looked to be a rather grumpy disposition. The second Goku was also wearing some sort of strange chest plate.

"This is my dad!" Goku said cheerily. _Huh?_ "His names-"

"My name is Bardock." The man said, stepping forward and cutting Goku off. "And I'm sorry about that. I asked to meet with you before the tournament. I'm not sure _how_ that translated into 'drag him six blocks against his will', but apparently, it _did._ " He gave Goku a disapproving glare, and the younger man turned red.

"Ah, um, it's…ok." Was all Roshi could manage. It had been enough of a shock to learn that Gohan had raised the extraordinary boy, but by all accounts, Goku had been an orphan. And now his father suddenly appeared? There was a pause, as Bardock apparently waited to see if he had anything more to say. Roshi didn't, despite the few million questions fighting for space in his head. Bardock did a sort of half-shrug, before turning to face Roshi more fully, Goku looking at them curiously.

Then to Roshi's surprise, Bardock bowed. "Thank you. For looking after my son." After a breath, Bardock's hand found Goku's head, though he remained in the bow, and he forced his son down as well. Goku blushed and assumed the proper posture. "I _know_ he can be a pain." Bardock growled pointedly.

"Um, yeah, thanks Master Roshi."

"Oh…of course." _This is new._ _Not unwelcome, but new._ Both men stood back up, and Bardock lightly slapped the back of Goku's head.

"Go get signed up, Kakarot. Or you'll miss it."

"Right!" Goku took a running leap into air, flying off toward the stadium. Bardock watched him go, before looking back at Roshi.

"I realize this is all rather sudden, but we should go back as well. I doubt the preliminaries will take that long." He started to walk back up the alleyway. "I'll explain more when we're there. But I promise, we can just walk."

* * *

"Oh, there you are." Krillin said as they turned to see Goku landing next to them. Again, it sent a wave of surprise in the crowd around them.

"Uh, Goku? Maybe you shouldn't be flying everywhere?" Yamcha said.

"Huh? Why not?" Goku asked.

"Because you're kinda freaking everyone else out." Goku crossed his arms, looking confused.

Finally, apparently stumped, he asked, "Why?"

They stared at him. "Goku…you couldn't fly three years ago either. The only ones who could were Tien and Chiaotzu. And we thought that was weird then."

Again, Goku seemed to take a while to digest this, finally answering with "Well…ok then. I'll save it for the matches."

"…huh." Yamcha looked over at the others, who shrugged. Goku laughed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I've been told to think before I speak more."

"Oh, hey Tien." Goku walked over up to him and spoke in a low enough voice so the others couldn't hear him.

"Huh?" Tien was in the middle of changing and looked up at him curiously. "What is it?"

"Uh…don't be alarmed when you see Piccolo."

" _What!?_ "

"I said don't be alarmed!" Goku said, hurriedly hushing him. "After I beat Piccolo he spat out an egg. Basically, the guy here is his son." Tien stood up, frowning at him.

"And?"

Goku shrugged. "Nothing else. I just wanted to make sure you didn't freak out."

"You're not worried?"

"Nope." Was the casual response. "He's stronger than his dad was but he won't be able to beat me. And he'll follow the rules of the tournament at least up to our fight, so everyone else will be fine."

Tien looked around worried. "If you're sure Goku."

Goku merely nodded, grinning, and walked over to the others. In a moment he was changed and in a matching Gi to Yamcha's and Krillin. "And I thought I'd be original…" Krillin grumbled. "Uh, hey Goku, what are you doing with your tail?"

"Huh?" Goku glanced down to where his tail was wrapped firmly around his waist. "Oh, it's not really useful for fighting anymore. I'm too big now, so I'm keeping it out of the way." The other's nodded their understanding. "That does remind me-" he cut off abruptly and looked behind him. The others followed his gaze, Tien's eyes narrowing.

"What is it Goku?" Krillin asked, looking curiously at the figure.

Tien walked up to stand beside him. "You weren't kidding," He growled.

"Seriously, what?" Yamcha asked, clearly worried.

"He's just strong," Goku said, turning away.

"Now anyway, I was saying-" he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a young girl, around his age, smiling at him.

"Goku…" he stared. _What should I say? What should I-wait, I was never taught what to say to a girl!_

"Uh…hi. Who…are you?" She stared at him for a moment, before her face darkened to anger.

"SCREW YOU!" She yelled, spinning on her heel and stomping away.

"G…Goku…who was that?" Yamcha asked.

"She was hot!" Krillin added.

Goku stared down the way she had gone, utterly blindsided. "I…I have no idea."

"Are you sure!? Are you sure you have no idea!?" Krillin yelled, running over and grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

"N-no Krillin, I'm sure."

"You really don't have any idea who that beautiful, beautiful woman was!?"

"No!"

"Damn you!"

"Anyway Goku, what were you going to tell us?"

"Huh? Oh, right. I just wanted to-"

 _"All Fighters! Report to the Stadium please!"_

Yamcha let out a heavy sigh. "I guess it'll just have to wait until after the preliminaries."

They all ended up in different brackets, though only Tien and Chiaotzu knew why. Everyone gathered to watch the first fight, which was between Goku and King Tschapa.

"You won't pass the first round this time." Goku looked confused, before he suddenly his fist in his hand in an 'aha!' moment.

"Oh right! I remember you now! From the last tournament!" Tschapa looked taken aback, before his expression quickly turned to anger.

"Wh-why you! I'll teach you to disrespect me!"

"Hehe…sorry."

 _"Begin!"_

Tschapa rushed at Goku, yelling in anger as he swept an arm out at his head. Goku's movement was almost imperceptible, a slight swaying to the side as he brought his own arm straight out in front of him. Tschapa's attack sailed harmlessly past Goku's head as a hand was planted in his chest. He had time to look down in surprise before Goku pushed out with his fingers. The man sailed off the ring and over the heads of the other competitors, smashing into the wall.

"Th…the winner is…#2…"

"Haha, oops!" Goku said, rubbing the back of his head. "I used a little too much force in that."

Tschapa was alive, but out cold, and many fighters stared in shock at the cracks in the wall.

The rest of the fights were fine, everyone only needing minimal energy to knock out their opponents, until Chiaotzu's fight.

" _So_ , Goku, what were you going to tell us?" Yamcha asked. Goku only had time to draw breath to speak when Tien abruptly stiffened, turning and running off toward one of the other arena's. "Son of a _bitch_." Yamcha growled as they hurried to follow. When they caught up, Tien was holding the unconscious Chiaotzu in his arms and glaring up at his opponent.

"Well, look who it is…and Goku, is that you?"

"T-Taopaipai?"

"You're alive?" Tien said in shock.

"I feel like we've been left so out of the loop this tournament." Krillin muttered to Yamcha, who grunted in agreement.

"I'm not that easy to kill."

"Goku, care to explain? For once?" Yamcha asked.

"He's Taopaipai, the assassin. He's the Crane masters younger brother, and was Tien and Chiaotzu's superior. And last I checked, I'd killed him."

"I took a long time to recover from the wounds you dealt me. I spent all my money to become a cyborg, and now, I'm stronger than ever." He turned to walk away. "See you in the finals…it'll be downright deadly."

They walked together as everyone finished up their final matches. "Taopaipai also qualified. He really wants to kill us." Tien said. They looked over toward the second to last fight, where the woman who had yelled at Goku had just knocked her opponent out of the ring.

 _"Number 59! Qualified!"_

"There's something familiar…I just can't place it…" Goku muttered. Krillin glared at him.

"Come on, let's watch the last fight." Yamcha said, waving them over. "Hoo, boy, they're nothing but clowns." Goku looked at them and smiled slightly.

"Yeah, the two of them do look silly like that." He agreed.

"Huh? You know them?"

"Uh, no." Goku answered, unconvincingly. The fight looked to be a farce, with 'Shen' apparently winning entirely on accident.

The referee almost had a heart attack when Krillin went to pick his spot, but otherwise the process was smooth, with the matches lined up.

"We've got some time now Goku." Yamcha said as they walked out of the preliminary area. "Can you tell us what you were going to say now?"

"Well, we might as well wait to see Bulma."

"The anticipation is killing me," Yamcha muttered.

"Hey guys!" Bulma waved as she, Launch, Oolong and Puar walked over.

"Where's Master Roshi?" Krillin asked.

"Dunno. We haven't seen him since Goku dragged him off," Bulma said, shooting Goku a disapproving look.

"Oh, he's nearby," Goku said confidently.

" _Now_ , can you please tell us whatever it was you were going to say?" Yamcha burst out. Bulma gave him a weird look. "He's been interrupted every single time he's started to say it!" He exclaimed.

"It's not that important," Goku said.

"I don't care! I just want to know!"

"Well, ok. I just wanted to apologize. For scaring you guys, the couple of times I transformed." They fell quiet, looking at him.

"Oh…you…know about that?" Bulma asked. Goku nodded, shifting uncomfortably.

"I know about Grandpa too. When Kami wanted the moon back, I had to know. But, it's not all bad! I can actually control myself when I transform now!" Relief broke out on everybody's faces, except for Tien, who looked confused.

Yamcha turned to him and quickly explained. "Goku turns into a giant rampaging super powerful ape monster whenever he sees a full moon."

Tien's mouth opened slightly. "…oh."

"It's called Oozaru." Goku said.

"Huh?" They turned back to him. "How do you know that?"

"I was-"

"Well!" Bulma said loudly, cutting him off. "I _do_ wonder where Master Roshi is." She looked pointedly at Goku, who blushed.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Maybe I should go find him."

"Maybe you should." Bulma growled. Goku nodded, paused for a moment, and then turned to walk back toward the stadium. He paused and looked back at the rest of them.

"Tien, I know Taopaipai won't be a problem for you, but the others…" He looked at Krillin and Yamcha. "Your opponents are really strong!" Krillin gulped and nodded, but Yamcha just laughed, trailing off when he saw Goku's expression.

"What-are you serious? We saw him fight!"

Goku shook his head. "He was acting. His opponent was actually really pretty strong too, but he was caught off-guard."

Yamcha nodded, his face serious now. "I won't make that mistake then. I'll go all out, right from the start!" Goku grinned, gave him a thumbs-up, and ran off toward the stadium.

* * *

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised Goku isn't human, what with the tail, but still…" Roshi shook his head. "It's hard to wrap my head around it." Bardock shrugged, leaning back against a wooden support. They had waited on the roof during the preliminaries, while Bardock quietly explained Kakarot's origins. Once that had ended and the building had emptied, they had hopped off the roof and walked inside, waiting for Kakarot to get back.

"You may be human." Bardock said. "And Kakarot may be a Saiyan, but you're both Earthlings."

Roshi looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You're both inhabitants of this planet. You both grew up here, you've both lived here your whole life. Everything you know and love is on this rock." He waved a hand around lazily. "You're Earthlings, even if you're different races."

Roshi considered this, nodding his agreement, before asking, "What about you?" Before Bardock could answer, they heard Kakarot outside.

"Hey Dad!"

He jogged through the open doors and over to the two of them. "Did you jog all the way back?" Bardock asked.

"Huh? Yeah, Yamcha said flying everywhere was freaking people out."

"Well, yeah, when there's a bunch of people who can't fly around. There was nobody on the way here. You could've flown."

Kakarot looked frustrated. "This is all too complicated!"

"It's not complicated. At all."

Kakarot sighed, before brightening again. "I made it into the finals! And so did everyone else! Well, except Chiaotzu."

Bardock nodded. "We know."

"It's amazing Taopaipai is alive." Roshi said, sounding concerned. "And bad. Will Tien be alright?"

Goku waved a hand at that. "Oh yeah, Tien is _way_ stronger than him." Bardock grunted his agreement.

"You can sense that?"

"Yeah, Kami taught us."

"And speaking of…"

Bardock stepped away from the pillar, slight concern mingling with annoyance on his face. "Do you know what the hell he's doing here?"

Roshi looked over at Bardock in surprise. "What? Kami is here?"

"He's Shen, though how he got in that body is beyond me."

"And it always will be." They looked over to see Shen-Kami walking toward them.

"O-oh!" Roshi said in alarm.

Bardock crossed his arms and glared. "What are you doing Kami? You aren't here to test Kakarot, considering you put him on the far side of the bracket."

"Noticed that, did you?"

"It was hardly a coincidence none of the 4 of them ended up facing each other."

Shen-Kami shrugged. "Guilty as charged. This way, everyone gets the fight they deserve. Goku will go on to the finals after facing Tien and then-"

"He'll be fighting Piccolo." Bardock stepped closer. "It's not a matter of whether you _should_ win or lose. You know that Piccolo is stronger than you, especially in that body. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that it's about time I handled my own messes. Now, Goku, we should hurry, or you'll miss your match." Kakarot's head swiveled over to his father, concern in his face.

Bardock waved them away. "Get going. We'll be watching."

"I can conceal you, if you so wish it." Shen-Kami offered.

Bardock shook his head. "Whatever your stupid plan is, Kami, you'll need all your energy for it."

Roshi had elected to stand with Bardock in a small niche between the stands and the stadium building, that afforded a full view of the ring while keeping them out of sight. It could only be reached by flying, which had led to an awkward episode of Roshi hanging on Bardock's arm, but they had made it none the worse for wear, just in time to see Tien and Taopaipai step onto the ring. "You're sure Tien will be fine?"

"This Taopaipai might have a few dirty tricks, but the reality is that he's so far out his depth here he can't hope to do real damage. Tien, Kakarot, Piccolo, and the rest of your students-they're just too far beyond what normal humans are capable of." They watched as Taopaipai was humiliated, unable to touch Tien, who seemed to be doing his best to hold back from seriously injuring him. The match officially ended when Taopaipai removed his robotic hand to reveal a blade, earning a shallow cut on Tien's chest. They ignored the referee, who was calling the match to end, as Tien tore of what was left of his shirt. "Was that necessary?" Bardock muttered. They talked to each other, eventually yelling, before Taopaipai jumped back and fired a large energy blast at Tien.

"Oh no!" Roshi yelled.

"It's flashy, not powerful." Bardock said. "Just watch." Sure enough, Tien simply destroyed the blast with a single shout, then rushed forward and knocked the assassin out with a single, hard punch.

"Well, you were right." Roshi said in amazement.

"I'm right a lot," Bardock responded, a hint of humor in his voice.

* * *

"So, you have no idea who this is?" Bardock asked.

"There's definitely something familiar about her style…it resembles mine. But I don't know her personally."

"She certainly knows Kakarot." The fight had been going on for several minutes now, as Goku dodged all her attacks while quizzing her, trying to figure out just how exactly they knew each other.

"What did I promise you?" The fight had drawn closer to where Bardock and Roshi stood, and they could hear the conversation clearly.

"You promised me you would take me as your wife!"

"What!?" Roshi practically jumped in the air, the others all having similar reactions. He turned to see what Bardock had to say, but the man looked like he'd just turned to stone.

"I-I did!?"

"You finally remember?" Goku seemed to be near panic as he desperately tried to remember.

"I'm just relieved Goku knows what that means," Roshi said.

"We explained it to him," Bardock's voice was faint as he watched the scene unfold.

"He was curious about his mom…" His body was twitching slightly as Goku and the woman continued to talk.

"Can I at least know your name?" "

Beat me and I'll tell you!"

"What…is he… _doing_?" Bardock's voice came out strangled, and he looked to be in physical pain. It took Roshi a moment to understand why.

 _He hadn't said no._

"Oh, is that all?" Goku suddenly swiped his hand, creating a powerful air pressure that knocked the woman out the ring. She hit the ground, and was pronounced the loser for ring-out. Goku hurried over to her. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yes…you're even stronger than I'd hoped…" He helped her up back onto the ring.

"So, what's your name?"

"You really don't remember? I'm Chi-Chi! Gyumao's daughter!"

"Chi-Chi!" The reaction swept through everyone else at the stadium who remembered the encounter with Gyumao. "Ah! I remember! I did say I would take you as my wife!"

"Finally!" Goku paused for a moment thinking, before he seemed to shrug, turning back to face her.

"So, we'll get married?" Bardock's mouth was fully open, one hand held up in front of him slightly. He looked like he was about to faint.

"Agreed."

 _"Woah! It seems Son Goku is getting married!"_

The announcer yelled, and the stadium responded with a roar as Goku and Chi-Chi walked out of the ring, arm in arm. Bardock slowly sank, as though he had been deflated.

"Remember to go all-out Krillin!"

"Huh? Uh-yeah-hey, where are you going?"

"I'll be watching, you just won't see me!" Goku said, hurrying by everyone, taking a confused and giggling Chi-Chi along with him. They all stared after them as they disappeared from sight. "Hold on." Goku told her, stopping as they exited out into open air. She complied, wrapping her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Where are we going?"

"If we're gonna be husband and wife, there's somebody you have to meet!"

"Ok!" And then she let out a gasp of surprise as they lifted into the air, before flying away.

They landed in the little spectator area to the sight of Bardock and Roshi both bent double, laughing on the verge of hysterics. "Uh…" Goku said as they landed, gently letting go of Chi-Chi, who was watching the two men with some confusion. "…Dad?" Goku said, uncertainly. Bardock paused for a moment, taking a few deep breaths, before managing to speak.

" _Really_ Kakarot? Just like _that_?"

"Dad?" Chi-Chi said, looking at Bardock with new interest as Goku turned red.

"Well…uh…I did promise." Roshi seemed to be more or less a lost cause, cackling and wheezing, while Bardock continued to fight for control.

"Well…ok but…someone you didn't even recognize shows up, says you're getting married, and you just…went with it?"

"Is there a problem?" Chi-Chi demanded. Bardock was still fighting back laughter, and he waved a hand at her, out of breath.

"No, no that's not what I meant, you're fine. I'm not even saying it's a bad call, just… _think_ about what just happened."

"I need to _stop_." Roshi managed, his throat sounding sore.

"Well…I mean…" Goku said hesitantly, trying to frame his words in the best possible way. "I _did_ know her. I just…didn't realize it." Bardock, after a few more deep breaths, wiped an actual tear from his eye and stood straight and placed a hand on Goku's shoulder.

"Kakarot, I'm not saying you made a mistake. It was a bit of surprise when your mother went after me too, but...at least I _knew_ her _name_!"

"I knew her name! I just…forgot…it…"

Bardock snorted and turned to Chi-Chi. "It's nice to meet you, Chi-Chi. My name is Bardock, I'm Kakarot's father." He bowed slightly, and she mirrored him, looking confused.

"Kakarot?" She asked.

"His birth name." Bardock said, gesturing to Goku. "It's a bit of a story. And the match is about to start."

Goku walked up to where Master Roshi was regaining control of himself, Bardock and Chi-Chi following him curiously. "I can't wait to see how much Krillin's improved." Goku said. Bardock grunted.

"He's certainly confident," Roshi added.

"He won't be able to win against Piccolo though," Bardock said.

"P-Piccolo!?" Chi-Chi asked, with some alarm.

Goku turned back to her. "Yeah, that's who that is. The old one spit out a son right before he died."

"Well if you know who it is, why aren't you doing something about it?"

"I am," Goku said cheerily. "I'm beating him in the tournament!" The fight began, Krillin able to surprise Piccolo with his skill.

"He still fights smarter than you do," Bardock said.

"Huh?" Goku said, looking over at him and frowning.

"Something Kami and I were talking about at the last tournament. You're the stronger fighter, but Krillin fights a fair bit smarter than you do. See? He completely tricked Piccolo with maneuver."

"Kami?" Chi-Chi asked, starting to feel out of her depth.

"Yeah, I trained with him and Dad up at the Lookout," Goku said, returning his attention to the fight.

"When?"

"In the time between this and when I defeated the first Piccolo."

" _You_ defeated? That was you!?"

"Who else?" Bardock grunted, evidently annoyed by the constant distraction. Chi-Chi fell quiet and watched the fight.

It was soon apparent that they had been right. Krillin fought intelligently, surprising Piccolo and getting a few good hits in, but he simply couldn't overpower the demon.

"He can stretch?" Kakarot asked curiously.

"Apparently. Wonder why the older one never did." Bardock's tone wasn't the least bit curious. "Still, it's good to know." The fight ended with Krillin taking a particularly nasty hit, and choosing to forfeit. "You should get back down there Kakarot."

"Right." He turned back to Chi-Chi, offering her his arm, before Roshi interrupted.

"Actually, can you take me back down too? I'll watch from the audience."

"O-oh, yeah, sure." And so, with Chi-Chi on one arm and Roshi on the other Goku carefully took off and circled the arena again, dropping Roshi off outside the spectator area and going back around and into the back of the competitor area.

* * *

Bulma let out a squeak of surprise as Roshi seemed to just appear next to her. "What-you-where-how!?"

"Psychological trick. I can make the crowd move apart from me."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Neither did a shrinking machine, but I didn't criticize you on that, did I?" Bulma glared, but had no retort.

"What did you think?" She asked.

"You know?"

"Duh. Remember who you're talking to." Roshi just looked at her. She turned red. "I made the armor, ok?"

"That does make more sense." Oolong and Launch were looking at them curiously.

"Anyway, are you gonna answer the question?"

"It was quite something. It's no wonder Goku's been acting differently."

"What are you guys talking about?" Oolong asked, annoyed at being left out.

"Oh, you'll find out later. Probably."

"Hmph!" They turned their attention back to the ring, where Yamcha and Shen were stepping out.

"Why is he so nervous? This looks like a cakewalk." Yamcha was sweating, almost shaking. Shen, on the other hand, looked utterly confident.

"No…he's right to be nervous…" Roshi said and Bulma turned back to look at him.

"What? Why?" After a moment, her eyes narrowed. "What did they tell you?"

But Roshi shook his head. "I can't repeat it." Bulma let out a frustrated sigh and looked back at Yamcha, worried.

* * *

Shen spoke quietly enough that only Yamcha could make out what he said. "You have a lot of faith in your friend, to be so nervous against little old me."

"Goku wasn't lying when he said you were something else. I've been trying to figure it out."

"Oh? And what have you determined?"

"You don't have any visible strengths." Shen smiled. "But I've been looking…and I don't see any weaknesses either."

"Very good. Let's see what you can do with that information."

 _"Begin!"_

Yamcha dropped into a ready stance, and Shen remained where he was, standing peacefully. "You go ahead and start." Yamcha said.

"Oh…well you genuinely have your guard up. I guess I'll be serious from the beginning." Shen took a deep breath, dropped into a ready stance, and-Yamcha almost lost sight of him completely. He barely managed to step out of the way of his elbow, managing to throw his own punch in return, which Shen ducked, using his free arm to land a solid punch in Yamcha's stomach. He staggered backwards, gasping, and Shen stood up, waiting for him to continue. "Good reflexes. I didn't think you'd be able to dodge that first attack."

 _"O-oh! Shen launches a blindingly fast attack on Yamcha! Who would've thought?"_

 _Thank you for warning me Goku._ Yamcha thought. If both of those blows had landed, or worse, if Shen had kept up his charades of pretending he was winning by accident-since that was what he had clearly been doing-he would've been utterly humiliated. "Come now, attack." Shen said. "You've a great deal of potential. So long as you don't continue to underestimate your opponents, you should do fairly well." He cocked his head to look at him.

"After all, Goku won't always be around to warn you about your fights." Yamcha's hand clenched into fists. The worst part was that the old man was right. Ever since meeting Goku, one of his worst mistakes had been underestimating whoever he was fighting. _Not anymore. I'll go all out!_ He rushed at Shen, hoping surprise would be on his side. It wasn't, as Shen side-stepped his punch, but he had been expecting that, and he pressed his foot into the ground to lift the other one up into a spinning kick aimed at the man's head. Shen caught his foot and turned to throw him with surprising strength. Yamcha was able to catch himself, hands planted firmly on the ring and as he flipped, twisting in the air to face his opponent, bringing his hands back as he landed. _No holds barred!_ "Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" The Ki wave burst forth, aimed at Shen, who was startled enough that he barely dodged it. This time, Yamcha didn't lose track of him, ducking under one blow and raising one arm to catch Shen's, his second hand ready to catch the blow aimed at his stomach.

They were locked, panting. "Second time, shame on me." Yamcha grunted.

"Much better than I expected. But that Ka-me-ha-me-ha took a lot out of you." Shen pushed, with more strength than Yamcha would have believed possible, sending him flying, almost off the ring. He caught himself just in time, immediately jumping closer to the center of the ring. "You don't have the energy to spend carelessly like that. Your reserves aren't deep enough yet." Yamcha glared at him, panting. "Still, your battle instinct is superb. Remember how that felt just now. Being so completely focused and attuned in a battle. You surpassed yourself a great deal just now, able to keep up with me, even for a short while." _I still have the Sokidan…I can hit him, I know it!_ "Now, I must win."

"I'm not done yet!" Yamcha yelled, bringing his hand up and concentrating his Ki. Before the ball had actually formed, he felt a hard blow in his stomach. He looked down in mild surprise at Shen, and the elbow he had just hit him with.

"You convinced me you're dangerous." The old man, stepping back as Yamcha crumpled to his knees, gasping for breath. "But due to the energy you spent on the Ka-me-ha-me-ha, you didn't have the power on hand to form that thing fast enough. I wasn't going to let myself get hit by it." He kicked Yamcha lightly, sending him sailing off the ring and onto the ground.

 _"After an amazing display, Yamcha is out of the ring! The winner is Shen!_ "

Yamcha made his way back onto the ring, to see Shen winking at him. He beckoned to him subtly to follow him back inside. Complying, they walked over to where Goku, Krillin, and Tien were standing. "Back inside." Shen said, and Yamcha, Goku, and Chi-Chi followed, the other two exchanging a confused look before walking after them. "I don't see much point in hiding the truth. You're all exemplary fighters, and Goku already knows everything anyway." He added as an aside. Goku laughed, and Chi-Chi looked a little miffed at not being counted in that. Shen turned back to face the three humans. "This is not my body. I borrowed it in order to fight in the tournament." They looked at each other in amazement.

"Not that he'll tell anybody how," Goku said.

Shen shrugged. "I'm only one who could do it anyway. My true identity is Kami, the Guardian of this planet."

"Wh-what!?"

"No wonder you're so strong!"

"I feel a little bit better about losing now…"

"Why are you here?" Tien demanded.

"You know why." Was Kami's calm answer. Krillin and Yamcha looked at Tien in confusion.

"You're here for Piccolo?"

"Piccolo!?" The other two yelled in unison.

"Demon Jr. is the name he's going by in this tournament." "

W-wait, so you're saying…the guy I fought…" Krillin said slowly.

"Was Piccolo's son. And you did an admirable job, considering he is even stronger than his father." Krillin paled at the memory of his fight.

"So," Goku started, turning to face Kami. "What are you going to do against Piccolo? You can't win." The others all looked at Goku in shock, amazed that he was so bold and rude.

Kami smiled. "I have some tricks up my sleeve, Goku."

But the young man crossed his arms, looking stubborn. "Don't ruin the tournament, Kami!

"I'm not going to! Don't be so immature."

"Or what?"

"Goku, you're acting like a child." They heard the announcer calling, and the three humans turned and hurried away, not wanting to be a part of the argument any longer. As Chi-Chi, Goku, and Kami started to follow them, the old man added, in an undertone. "And if you want an 'or what', I'll go get Bardock." Goku paled and began to walk toward the stage faster, not saying a word.

 _"And here is the first semi-final…Tien Vs Goku!"_

 _"These two fighters fought in the last final, with Tien defeating Goku! They were almost equal then. What will happen now?"_

Tien and Goku jumped out onto the ring, to the applause of the crowd. Squaring off, Goku said, "You better go all-out from the start Tien!"

Tien grinned. "You as well!"

But then, to his surprise, Goku smirked. "Sorry, I don't think I'll have to." A ripple went through the crowd at that.

"Is he…trash-talking?" Yamcha said, bewildered.

"It…sure sounds like it." Krillin answered. "I didn't know he even knew how to." They looked over at Kami, who studiously ignored them.

"That's pretty cocky of you Goku." Tien called back.

"The difference between cocky and confident is having the power to back it up." Goku sounded like he was quoting somebody, and again, Krillin and Yamcha looked at Kami, who, again, looked away. Chi-Chi giggled, thinking she could guess where he had learned that from. Goku set his stance and there was the briefest flash of light, as wind suddenly flowed from his position, over Tien and the spectators. Tien dropped into his own ready stance, sweat trickling down the side of his head. _Woah…he wasn't kidding. Maybe I should go all out from the start._

 _"Begin!_ "

Tien rushed forward, swiping at Goku's head. Rather than ducking, as Tien had expected, he merely caught the blow with an open hand, pulling him off-balance as he stuck a leg out in front of him, sweeping his legs off the ground. Then Goku spun, and threw Tien away from him. It was difficult to stop himself in mid-air, with the force of the throw, and the moment he did, he realized Goku was already behind him. _That speed's insane!_ He barley ducked the high kick, and was forced to block the follow-up blow on his arms, sending him backwards slightly from the force. The match probably would've ended there if he hadn't known Goku could fly.

"Not bad Tien!" Goku said. He didn't seem the least bit tired.

"So this…is the result of Kami's training, huh?" He panted.

"Hmm…not exactly." Goku said, grinning, before resuming his stance.

 _"Incredible! We can barely keep up! Goku seems to have the advantage!"_

 _He's got more than just 'an advantage.'_ Tien thought. _This is a whole other level…but I won't give up!_ He remembered what Kami had said to Yamcha during their battle. That he had been so attuned to the fight, so serious, that he had surpassed himself and fought level with the Guardian for a moment. _If he can do it, so can I!_ He dropped back to the ring, Goku following him curiously. He closed his eyes, confident Goku was a good enough sport not to exploit this moment, and took a few deep breaths. _Your opponent is stronger than you…you know that. He's faster than you…you know that. So focus completely on the fight. Nothing else. Nothing but surpassing the man in front of you._ It was a kind of inner peace, and as he opened his eyes, he saw Goku understood what he had been doing. Grinning, the young man bowed, in proper sparring form. Tien returned it.

"Now," Goku said, grinning. "We can go for real!"

"Right!"

Goku rushed forward, and this time, Tien could track his movements, and dodge the first punch. He brought his knee up towards Goku's chest, which he blocked with an arm, before lashing out at Tien's head with the opposite leg. Tien ducked under it, moving his knee back and pushing off with both legs from the ground. Under Goku, he took off, going straight up and taking Goku with him. Goku freed his arm from the grip and rolled to the side, out of Tien's hold, before landing a kick to his side and sending his staggering the air. Not missing a beat, even as he held his side with one hand, he used his other to fire several, weaker Ki blasts at Goku to slow him down. Rather than dodge, Goku batted them all away and came forward, one arm brought back. Tien suddenly dropped his Air Dance, allowing himself to fall normally, surprising Goku, whose attack landed on empty air. Goku charged downwards at him, and Tien waited until the last possible moment to reactive his Air Dance and sway out the way of Goku's attack. It didn't work as smoothly as he hoped, as Goku was able to turn and stop himself before crashing into the ring, and he fired a light Ki blast. Tien dodged out of the way of it, but then Goku clenched his hand and it exploded right next to him.

He managed to land on the ring, waving the smoke away from his eyes. _This is a fight!_ He thought, as he jumped to the right, away from Goku's kick. He dodged around him, getting a more comfortable distance away from the ring and tried to launch a more powerful Ki blast at Goku's blast. Goku turned and fired his own, larger blast, which met and exceeded Tien's own. He jerked his arms up, using what energy of his remained in the bubble heading toward him to send it upwards, where it exploded harmlessly. He and Goku rushed forward at the same time, exchanging several light punches, neither of them finding an opening to hit. _No over the top techniques, no cheats, nothing but good combat._ He remembered the last tournament, when the Crane Master had made Chiaotzu cheat to help him. He also remembered the multi-form technique he had mastered. He ducked Goku's next and jumped backwards, flipping and using his hands to launch himself into the air, where he rained down Ki blasts on Goku. It reminded him of the last tournament, when he had given himself to extra arms. _That didn't help much. Maybe the multi-form won't either?_ Goku flew up after him, his arms in front of him to block the incoming barrage.

"Careful Tien!" He called. "You only have so much energy." Before Tien could retort, to his amazement, Goku vanished from his sight. He turned in time to see, but not block, Goku's hammering blow from his two joined fists. Nor could he stop himself from crashing into the ring.

He staggered to his feet as Goku landed. Panting, he asked, "Why not end it there? You could've."

"Ring-outs no fun." Goku responded. "Not when you still have fight left." Tien shook his head in wonder.

"You're something else Goku. You were right that you didn't need to go all out."

Goku shrugged. "I've had a…serious teacher."

Tien frowned. "You keep making it sound like it was somebody other than…" He trailed off, not saying the name.

Again, Goku shrugged, grinning. "Got anything else?" He asked.

"Not anything that would make a difference in the long run, I think. You'd dodge any big attacks, and you're too fast for me to overtake with clones."

"Woah woah, wait a minute, back up. Clones?" Goku's eyes grew wide with interest, and Tien laughed. He expected Goku to see through the techniques weakness in no time, but there was no harm in trying.

"Alright, I'll show you." He brought his arms up and concentrated, dividing his power in half first, into two separate bodies. He heard gasps from the crowd, but was too busy focusing on dividing again, into 4th's. Goku stared in wonder, mouth slightly open, before he smacked his fist onto his palm.

"Oh, I get it! You divide your power into equal chunks, and then give it form!"

Tien sagged, mouth open slightly. "Really? Not even a minute? Just like that?"

Goku laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I had to learn a _lot_ about energy sensing. I just noticed your power was dropping each time you did it. And all the clones have the same feel." Tien sighed, disappointed in spite of himself, and after a moment of concentrations, returned the clones to himself.

"Since they're only quarter of my energy, they're only a quarter of my strength. With the gap being this big, there's not much help to be found." He looked up at the sky, blew out a pent-up breath, then called over to the ref. "I concede."

 _"And…Tien has surrendered! After another incredible, high-intensity battle, we have our first finalist! Son Goku!_

 **I was going to make the whole tournament one chapter, but this is already almost at 8k words. I was then also going to have both semi-finals on here, but I didn't think I could manage an entire chapter just off Goku vs. Piccolo. The logical thing then is to have this chapter be the first round, and the next chapter be the semi-finals** ** _and_** **the final, but, um, well honestly I didn't decide to break it apart until after I wrote Tien vs. Goku. So…here you go. I am moving right on to the next chapter after uploading this so it shouldn't be too long before we wrap up Dragon Ball. Until then, enjoy the violence, and please let me know how I did in my attempt to write real action!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Fearsome Demon Piccolo**

 **So first, clearly, I am a filthy liar when it comes to talking about how fast I'll get updates out.**

 **Second, as what is essentially an open-response to the review left by Sokei Kodora (who guest-reviewed and so I can't pm),** ** _thank you_** **. When I write these chapters it tends to come out as more of a stream of consciousness-type writing. I don't pay any attention to formatting or the like, and when I read back-through to self-edit, well, it all makes sense to me _. It's just not something I thought about on my own.**

 _"After this next match, we will know who the next finalist is! Shen or Demon Jr.!"_

"You're amazing Goku. I couldn't hope to keep up." Goku grinned as they walked back. Yamcha, Krillin, and Chi-Chi all walked over to them.

"That was insane!"

"That was incredible!"

"You were _amazing_."

"Uh…thanks," Goku said, a little overwhelmed by the praise.

Tien turned to him. "Be honest Goku. How much were you holding back?"

Goku turned red. "Well…uh…" They all stared at him expectantly. "I'm still uh…wearing weighted clothing."

Yamcha's jaw dropped. "You did all that with weights!?"

"How much?" Tien asked in amazement.

"300 pounds. Its 60 per weight."

"If you can do all that…how strong is Kami?"

Goku shifted uncomfortably. "Well…I'm kinda…um…"

"Stronger than me." They turned to see Kami, still as Shen, walk down toward them. "Goku surpassed me during his training. He is the second strongest being currently on this planet."

"Nice of you to realize who the strongest is, Kami." Piccolo emerged behind him, grinning evilly. "I'm surprised you were so objective."

"He wasn't talking about you." Goku said coldly.

"Oh? Then who else was he referring to?" Goku crossed his arms and glared, not answering. Piccolo laughed.

"After what you just saw Piccolo-can you really say for sure you're stronger than Goku? You heard how much he was holding back."

"And I'm supposed to be intimidated? That's nothing. You might think that tail makes you special, Goku, but you aren't anything but another pathetic, weak little human."

Goku's grin was, for once, without humor. "You'd better hope you never see just what kind of special this tail makes me, Piccolo." Piccolo tilted his head, curious, but they were interrupted before they could continue.

 _"Shen and Demon Jr.? Please come out to the stage!"_

"Hmph! Well, Goku, I hope you're ready. After I'm done with him, you're next." Kami and Piccolo walked out to the stage as the others watched them go.

"Goku…are you sure that Kami's going to lose? Is Piccolo that strong?" Krillin was clearly nervous. Goku turned back to him, a more serious expression on his face than they'd ever seen.

"Honestly Krillin? Kami's plenty strong compared to you guys, and Piccolo _is_ stronger than him, but in the grand scheme of things…well, neither of them are that strong."

"WH-what!?" Everyone stared at him in shock, except Chi-Chi, who merely looked concerned.

"How can you say that?" Yamcha exclaimed. "We're stronger than we've ever been-the strongest fighters in the world! And they dwarf us! How can you say they're not very strong?"

It was Tien seemed to put it together first. "Who is it, Goku?" The others looked at him. "The person Kami said was stronger than you. The one who trained you, and told you about all this?" Yamcha's eyes narrowed as he followed Tien's train of thought.

"And…they're the one who taught you about your tail, aren't they? Whoever it is." Chi-Chi and Goku exchanged a look, and Krillin suddenly stepped forward, pointing.

"Does _she_ know!? _She_ knows but not us? What's that about!?" Chi-Chi looked like she had an angry retort ready, but it was Yamcha who spoke next.

"Wait-Bulma knows too, doesn't she?"

"Ah-"

"And you that's where you took Roshi, isn't it! To introduce him!" The three fighters were closing in on Goku, angry at being left out.

The young man held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Look, Bulma's known for a while-and he asked to see Roshi-and I had to show Chi-Chi-but I was told to keep it a secret otherwise!"

"Damn right you _had_ to show me." Chi-Chi grumbled.

"Who is _he_?" Tien asked again.

 _"Begin!"_

They heard a rush of air, and could see dust and rocks flying from the stadium.

"Later?" Goku asked weakly.

"So long as you just spit it out at the next available opportunity this time," Yamcha said. Goku nodded, and they hurried to their viewing area. Piccolo and Kami were talking in some strange language.

"Any idea what they're saying, Goku?" Tien asked quietly.

He shook his head. "Must be their native language."

"Which is?"

"Kami doesn't know."

Yamcha stared at him. "Kami doesn't know what his native language is?"

"No."

"…That's…dumb."

"Pay attention!" Chi-Chi hissed at him. Yamcha jumped to attention.

 _"What's this? Shen has placed a small bottle on the ground. It's not a weapon…perhaps it's a good luck charm?"_

"What is he..." Goku began, but it was Tien who realized.

"He's not-He's gonna use the Mafuba!" Gasps echoed around the group, except for Chi-Chi, who seemed confused.

Goku just looked mad. "But that's not fair! He said he wouldn't ruin the tournament!" He seemed almost ready to jump out there and stop them, but too late.

"Mafuba!"

They watched as the swirling energy coursed toward Piccolo, surrounding him.

"It's over." Tien said grimly. "I doubt someone like Kami would miss with this." The tall man shook his head, sighing, as he turned to walk away.

"Reverse Mafuba!"

"…What?"

He turned back and they all watched as the Mafuba changed direction, beginning to swallow Kami up. After a moment, they saw the body of Shen drop to the ground as another body materialized, spinning around until he was trapped in the little bottle. They all continued to stare as Shen, apparently free from Kami, awoke after the count and hurried off the stage as the confused referee declared Piccolo the winner. The demon walked over, scooping up the battle and walking over to the viewing area.

Goku slapped a hand to his face. "Oh…for the love of..."

"Despairing? That's the end of your Guardian. Afraid, Goku?"

Goku looked at him blandly. "No." His lack of expression seemed to throw Piccolo off more than anything. "Can I have Kami please?" After a brief pause, Piccolo grinned evilly and threw the bottle into his mouth, swallowing.

"Sure, you can have him back. Just have to kill me to do it."

"But-that'll kill him too!" Goku said, his aura of calm broken.

Piccolo laughed as he strode past them. "Not my problem." Goku let out a sigh of exasperated frustration as he turned to look at the sky above them.

"Oh don't get so grumpy."

Everybody jumped as a man seemed to materialize above them, floating down to join them. "It won't be a problem. You can stop Piccolo without killing him, and I'll make him cough up Kami afterwards."

"But-can he even do that?"

The man shrugged. "Probably. If not, we'll just have some Senzu beans on hands and I'll tear out his stomach. He can survive that."

"Ewwww…"

"Uh…Goku?"

Goku only just now seemed to remember they were there. "Oh, right, sorry. This is my dad."

"Dad!?"

"Nice to see you again." Bardock nodded to Chi-Chi, the woman looking slightly green at the image of Bardock ripping out Piccolo's stomach, but she merely nodded in response. He raised a hand to acknowledge the other three. "Yeah, hi. Anyway, Kakarot." Goku turned back to him. "Don't worry about anything but winning. I'm sure Piccolo will try a lot of dirty tricks-probably try to kill this lot once he realizes he's outmatched," Bardock waved a hand at the groups of humans, who stiffened in fear, "but don't worry about." Bardock grinned wolfishly. "I'll make sure he plays by the rules."

Goku nodded, confident. "Ok!"

"Ah, here you all are." Bardock glanced over his shoulder to see Bulma and Roshi walking over to them. "We thought you had gone inside."

Bardock nodded to them. "Bulma. Roshi."

"What just happened? That was the Mafuba wasn't it? What did he do?"

Tien answered, the most composed of the three fighters. "Piccolo reversed it, and trapped Kami in a bottle. Which he then swallowed."

"He probably thinks he invincible now." Bardock grunted. He eyed Kakarot. "And that means…"

His son smacked his fist into his other hand.

"Beating him up will only be more fun!"

"Exactly!" Bardock patted his son on the shoulder approvingly. Bulma and Chi-Chi giggled, while the men still looked hopelessly confused.

"Erm…right." Roshi said. "Are you sure it's not a problem?"

"I'm sure." Bardock said simply. "But, Kakarot-you should probably take of the weights. Piccolo is still faster than you with them on, and I doubt he'll give you the time to take them off during the fight."

"Oh, ok."

"Do you want your armor, Goku?" Bulma held out a capsule, but he shook his head.

"No, I can't wear armor during the tournament." He grinned as he moved to go back inside to change. "Besides, I won't need it." Bulma shrugged and Kakarot disappeared inside. Chi-Chi walked over to Bulma, a mild suspicion setting in.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Bulma! I'm not sure we ever actually met, or were introduced, at least. I went around with Goku when we were collecting the Dragon Balls!" This hardly seemed to douse Chi-Chi's suspicions.

"So…you've known Goku for a long time then?"

"Oh, relax. I'm stuck with that idiot over there right now." She jerked a thumb over to where Yamcha stood, listening with the others as Bardock briefly introduced himself. "Besides, I'll never be able to _not_ picture Goku as a little kid. He's all yours." Chi-Chi smiled, apparently accepting the explanation, and they walked together over to the group as Goku re-emerged, carrying his weighted clothes in a pile.

"Uh, Bulma, on second thought, open that capsule." Bardock said, glancing at Goku.

"Huh? Okay." She pressed the button and tossed the capsule between them, where it opened in a puff of smoke, revealing the chest plate, gloves, and boots, sitting neatly on top of the folded blue jumpsuit underneath. Bardock gestured for Goku to come over.

"I forgot we'd weighted the shoes. You need a spare pair." Goku only just seemed to notice he feet were bare. Chi-Chi picked up the boots and walked over to him, Bardock watching her with a raised eyebrow. The woman handed Goku the boots. He pulled them on, and as he was bent down to make sure they were tight, she kissed him on the cheek before turning and walking back toward the group. Goku watched her go, surprised, one hand over the spot she had kissed him.

 _"Ladies and Gentleman! The final match is about to start! Who will be the new champion? Demon Jr. or Son Goku?"_

"Like that's a question!" Bulma said confidently, turning to the others. "Goku will floor him, right Bar-" But he was gone. Goku smiled and held a finger to his lips as Piccolo emerged from the waiting area.

"Made peace with you friends, worm?"

Goku just grinned. "It's monkey, actually." Piccolo snorted and kept walking, without saying a word.

"Go kick his butt, Goku!" Chi-Chi suddenly yelled, causing the men near her to jump.

"Right!" Goku said, hurrying to catch up.

They stared after him as he walked out onto the stage. Bulma turned back to the others.

"Ok but seriously, where'd Bardock go?"

"Probably above us." Roshi said, craning his neck to look up, in an attempt to spot him. "But that speed was something else. I didn't know he was moving until he already gone."

"Same here," Tien said in awe. "It's no wonder Goku got so strong."

 _"They're both unequaled martial artists! We are all witnesses to the fight of the century!"_

"Come on, let's go watch!" Chi-Chi said, and she and Bulma hurried off to the viewing platform.

Yamcha turned to Roshi. "Uh…shouldn't you and Bulma be returning to the audience?"

"Oh, like anybody's going to care. Come on you three!" And so saying, Roshi followed after the two women.

"I think it's got a lot more to do with the fact that the only girl left in the audience is Launch, if Bulma and Chi-Chi are back here." Krillin grumbled.

"Oh, let's just go," Yamcha said.

 _"And here is the final match of the 23_ _rd_ _Budokai World Tournament! Who will emerge victorious?_

"Are you ready, clown?"

"Ready to fight?" Goku asked, sliding down into a ready stance as Piccolo discarded his cape. A fierce grin appeared on Goku's face. "I was _born_ ready to fight."

 _"Begin!"_

Goku pushed off, rushing forward faster than Piccolo could react, landing a hard elbow in his stomach, and a harsh uppercut knocking him slightly up from the ring. He jumped back slightly, immediately jumping forward and kicking Piccolo through the air, sending him spinning toward the edge of the ring. Piccolo stopped himself upright, mouth opening to yell something, but Goku had already closed the distance between them, landing a hard right hook across Piccolo's jaw, nearly breaking it, and a knee to Piccolo's stomach, before grabbing his shoulders and turning, sending him sailing the opposite direction he had just gone. Piccolo crashed down into the ring, skidding several feet before righting himself, standing square on his feet, panting and wiping green blood from his chin.

"Sorry Piccolo, but I'm a lot faster without those weights on."

"Y…you…how are you…"

"Someone wanted me to take this seriously," Goku said as he flew over to where Piccolo stood. "So I did."

"You…you want serious? I'll destroy you!" He drew his back and lunged, the arm extending as it flew toward Goku, who merely side-stepped the strike and caught the arm.

"Shouldn't have shown us this trick!" He called as he turned and threw Piccolo over his shoulder. The demon flew overhead, and extended his other arm towards Goku, hoping to catch him off-guard. Goku hopped above the incoming attack, sticking a foot out and landing on the outstretched limb. He leaned back on the throw, stopping Piccolo from crashing in to the arena and turned-his foot now crushing Piccolo's wrist-and began to spin him horizontally, simultaneously releasing his grip on Piccolo's arm and lifting his foot up, so that Piccolo was sent off to the edge of the ring at incredible speeds. He just barely stopped himself from hitting the wall and getting ring out. He turned, roaring with fury as he blasted a Ki wave towards Goku. The young man braced himself, bringing his hands back together, before knocking the wave up into the sky, following it up as he jumped into the air, dodging Piccolo's follow-up strike, and spun, kicking Piccolo in the face and sending him staggering to the side as Goku regained his feet, immediately dodging under a wild swing. Before he could respond, he had to roll backwards to avoid Piccolo's knee, kicking upwards halfway through and forcing Piccolo to take a step back as Goku flipped backwards, out of his roll-to find himself at the ring edge. He staggered for a split-second, looking to regain his balance, and Piccolo took full advantage, firing a large Ki blast at Goku.

 _If I dodge that it'll hit the audience!_ Goku pushed backwards, taking off into the air and caught the blast on his bare hands, holding it back.

"You really think you can stop that!?"

"Yes!" Goku began to push back at the same time Piccolo strengthened his attack. _Damn it!_ They were at a standstill for the moment, but his hands were really starting to hurt. _Just fire back already!_ The problem was, if he fired back to strongly, he risked killing Piccolo, or even his friends beyond the ring. Slowly, he built up energy in his hands, creating a slight wall between them. It expanded, blue covering the orange of Piccolo's blast, until it was a solid barrier.

"Hey Piccolo! I think this is yours!" And he fired, his beam sweeping through Piccolo's and hitting the demon head-on. The roar of rage and pain was muffled by the noise of the explosion, as smoke billowed upward from the impact. "Whew!" Goku wiped his brow as he landed back on the ring. "That was close." _Wait…I didn't have to do that! Dad said he would-so then that was all-_ "Ah, darn it. What a waste of energy." Goku crossed his arms, annoyed. "I could've just dodged-woops!" He swayed to the side as Ki blast flew right where his head had been, curving up and away from the crowd. The smoke cleared, and Piccolo was visible. One arm, the one Goku had stomped on earlier, looked entirely useless, hanging at his side and covered in green blood. His shirt had been mostly blown off, and there were burn and smoke marks across his body, along with a fair amount of blood. "Oh, well, maybe not a total waste."

"You…you…how!?" Piccolo bellowed.

 _"Incredible display by Son Goku! Demon Jr. seems completely outmatche-"_

"SHUT UP OR I'LL KILL YOU!" Piccolo yelled, interrupting the announcer.

"Oh, no he won't," Goku said calmly.

Piccolo turned to him, a crazy look in his eyes. "You think I won't!? I'll kill him! I'll kill all of them!" Ki built up in his hands as he gestured toward other fighters. "I came here to kill you! I don't care about this tournament!" Goku dropped his stance and crossed his arms, smirking.

"Go ahead. Try it." Piccolo stared at him, eyes bulging, his face a mask of pure rage.

"Do you really think you're fast enough to stop me!?"

"Probably. But I don't have to do a thing. Play by the rules."

"Rules? RULES!? I AM THE DEMON PICCOLO! I AM THE RIGHTFUL RULER AND DESTROYER OF THIS WORLD!" Screams erupted from the audience in response to the name, but the two fighters ignored them. "I DO NOT FOLLOW YOUR STUPID RULES! SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR FRIENDS!" He fired, the massive Ki blast toward the viewing platform. Goku didn't move, and neither did the spectators, though they looked like they wanted to. There a flash, and the blast exploded once it reached the edge of the ring, disappearing in a harmless cloud of smoke. Piccolo stared in shock.

"You shouldn't waste so much energy Piccolo," Goku said. "You entered this tournament. You have to follow the rules."

"How…did you… _did_ you?..."

"Come on, let's finish this." Goku dropped back down into a ready stance, but Piccolo didn't seem to be ready to give up his gambit quite yet. The audience was now about half-strength, those who had still been inside when Piccolo's blast had been foiled. The demon crossed his arms in front of him, and in a moment, power was coursing all along his body.

"Let's you block thisARG!" Goku's kick sent Piccolo sailing across the ring, with follow-up knee sending him into the air, where Goku jumped higher then him, spinning in the air and landing a sharp heel-kick, sending him crashing back down.

"What, did you think I was just gonna sit around and wait for you power-up?" Goku seemed genuinely curious as he flew back down to the ring.

"You know, for a moment there," Krillin said. "I thought that he was just going to wait."

"Not gonna lie, I was thinking the same thing." Yamcha agreed.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, Goku wouldn't put me in danger," Chi-Chi said dismissively. After a short pause, she amended: "Us, I meant. He would never put _us_ in danger." They stared at her. "Mostly me."

"Focus." Roshi hissed, and they turned to see Piccolo staggering back to his feet.

"You are tough!" Goku said approvingly. "Ready to keep going?" Piccolo did not look ready. He was even bloodier than before, covered in sharp rock bits from where he had crashed into the ring.

"I will not accept this! How are you this strong? You can't be!"

Goku smiled. "It's actually pretty simple, Piccolo. I'm not a whole lot stronger than you. Heck, I'm not even twice your strength. But I had some good advice. I went all out from the beginning of the fight. The difference between us is I took you seriously." Piccolo glared at him, panting. "This fight was only one-sided because you were arrogant." Goku said, eyes narrowing. "I was looking forward to a good bout, but you were so sure you were stronger than me that you let yourself get knocked around." Piccolo staggered a little, but stood up fully, meeting Goku's gaze. "Sorry, but I wasn't going to just play until you got serious."

For likely the first time in his life, shame flickered onto Piccolo's face. He clenched his good hand into a fist, which shook slightly. "You say you wanted to kill me to rule the world." Goku walked over to where Piccolo was standing. "But I think you just really wanted to fight me. You're not a villain Piccolo. You're a warrior." Goku grinned, and extended a hand. "So am I." Piccolo stared at the offered hand.

"Is he insane?" Krillin whispered in fright. "There's no way-Piccolo is pure evil!"

"I don't know." Tien muttered. "I was there the last time they fought. Maybe it's just because Goku is so much stronger-but this one isn't an exact copy of his father. Maybe Goku see's something we don't."

"Or maybe he's about to get his arm ripped off." Yamcha muttered darkly. "Ow!" Both Bulma and Chi-Chi had hit him.

"Goku's not the same naïve little kid. You heard him just now." Bulma hissed. "I'm sure he knows Piccolo might attack him." They turned back to watch. Piccolo was still staring at the offered hand, looking like he was struggling with something. He was either a good actor, or his loss to Goku had been truly humbling. Slowly, he extended a hand, which Goku took-and then had to immediately sway to the side to dodge the follow-up kick. Rather than release Piccolo's hand, he tightened his grip, turning and throwing Piccolo over his shoulder, not releasing his hold, slamming him into the arena, causing the rock to break and fly everywhere. He repeated the process, throwing Piccolo over his shoulder again, and again.

"Brutal…" Yamcha said in awe. After the fourth crash, Goku released his hold on Piccolo and planted a foot firmly in his chest.

"If you would've actually shaken my hand, I would've given you a Senzu bean." Goku told his barely conscious opponent. "Your back-stabbing would've gone better at 100%." He looked over expectantly at the ref, who had up to this point, been frozen in shock.

"Oh-oh, right, of course." He cleared his throat and raised his microphone.

 _"1…2…3…"_

"I can't believe how much Goku's grown up over the past 3 years," Roshi said.

 _"4…5…6…"_

"He's really matured as a fighter." Bulma said.

"He's nowhere near as naïve as he was." Tien agreed.

 _"7…8..."_

"There's still Kami to worry about. And what we're supposed to do with Piccolo." Yamcha reminded them.

 _"9…"_

Piccolo jerked upright and fired a powerful Ki blast from his mouth. Goku, unprepared, didn't quite get out the way. Rather than going through his shoulder, as Piccolo had evidently intended, it grazed his chest, parting skin and shirt and sending blood flying. Chi-Chi screamed, but Goku, even with the pain, reacted and stepped back, kicking Piccolo across the face. He staggered back, holding his side and blood flowed freely down his body.

 _"Oh my goodness! Ah…well, he's still down, and Son Goku, though harmed, remains standing. 10! The count is completed, and Son Goku is the winner!"_

Cheers erupted from the remaining watchers as Chi-Chi hurdled over the small barrier between the viewing area and the ring, the others close behind.

"Oh my goodness! Goku, are you alright!?"

"Yeah…anyone got a Senzu?" Krillin searched his pockets hurriedly, but as he took one out, Goku looked up and caught the one Bardock tossed him with his good hand. They all stepped back to make room as Bardock landed in the middle of their group. Goku ate the Senzu. After a second, he flexed, good as new.

"Oh! Those are wonderful!" Chi-Chi said in amazement, as she felt Goku's healed shoulder. "Thank you, Bardock. I'll be right back with a washcloth to clean all that blood up."

"Uh…you don't have…to…" Goku trailed off as Chi-Chi hurried away. He shrugged, and examined his shirt. "Aw, man, it's ruined."

"Not gonna lie, Kakarot." They all looked at Bardock. "You kinda deserved that." Goku turned red, and the others looked at Bardock in shock. "You knew he was awake. You weren't paying attention. You're lucky you didn't get a hole in your shoulder." Goku looked down, embarrassed.

"Sorry…"

Bardock sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "You won, and that's what most important." Goku started to brighten when Bardock's fist came down on top of his head. His expression was thunderous. "Now would you _mind_ explaining what the _hell_ that handshake was!?" Goku began to shrink as Bardock yelled. "Seriously, what were you thinking? Was there something in the whole 'he's evil incarnate' explanation that you missed!? Just when I'm thinking you've finally grown up enough that you're willing to just beat the bad guys and _not_ be preaching at them during the whole fight, you pull this shit!"

"Ah, um, well,"

"Don't _well_ me! There is no good explanation for that! I'd like to know why you took the time to explain to someone-someone who's ONLY goal in coming here, mind, was to kill you-I'd really like to know why you took the time to explain to him that he _could_ , in fact, kill you if he tried harder, and then _offer him medicine so he could try again!"_

"He didn't take it-"

"I don't care if he didn't take it! You were perfectly ok with giving it to him! The guy who wanted to kill you! You were just going to heal him good as new! Do you have absolutely no caution when it comes to fighting? I thought we were on the same page, but I guess you still like to almost get yourself killed!"

The others watched as Bardock ranted, Goku seeming to shrink more and more as it went on. None of them wanted to intervene, and just stood awkwardly, Krillin still holding the Senzu bean.

"I believe he's his dad." Yamcha said to the others, who all nodded in agreement.

"It's about time he listened to somebody about this stuff." Bulma said.

"He's grown up quite a bit…but offering Piccolo a Senzu bean?" Roshi shook his head. "That's just ridiculous-Krillin!"

Piccolo's extending arm snatched the bean from Krillin, who had been holding it loosely. The bald fighter had to jump back to avoid being struck as Piccolo withdrew it arm and crunched down the bean, jumping to his feet.

"Dammit!" Tien yelled as he grabbed Roshi and jumped backwards, Yamcha following suit with Bulma while Piccolo fired a large Ki blast at the group.

"Oh for the love of-" Bardock threw his arm out and fired a blast that intercepted Piccolo's, carrying it away and curving it above the participant's area into the open air, where it exploded. Its arc carried it right past Chi-Chi, who was hurrying back out with a towel. She stopped herself so abruptly that her feet slipped out from under her and she fell flat out, the towel hitting her face. Piccolo took off from the ring as fast as he could, not looking back.

Bardock let out an exasperated sigh as Piccolo vanished in the distance. "Oh, go on ahead. I'll catch up with Kami." He powered up briefly and was gone in a flash, out of sight in seconds.

There was a short pause as they all stared the direction the other two had gone, before Krillin spoke. "So…that happened. Is he gonna go rip out Piccolo's stomach now?"

Goku shrugged, walking over to Chi-Chi as she joined back up with the group, wincing slightly. "He has Senzu beans so…maybe. We can ask him when he gets back. I'm _starving._ "

"Alright, well, let's go collect the winnings. We'll need them to pay for food," Yamcha said as they all began to walk off the ring.

"I'll probably have to help foot the bill." Bulma sighed. "I doubt Bardock is gonna take that long, and I'm sure he's got an appetite like Goku's" Goku made a noise of agreement as Chi-Chi attempted to wipe the now-dry blood off his shoulder and walk at the same time. "I hope they up the prize money by the next one we enter. This is going to be expensive, even with the winnings."

* * *

Piccolo flew as fast he could, not caring about where he was going. _Dammit, dammit, dammit!_ Everything had gone wrong. Strong as he was, Goku had been stronger. Even the other humans had been far stronger than he expected. They couldn't kill him, not if they cared about Kami, but now, even trapping the Guardian might become a disadvantage. They had a reason to hunt him now. And who had that man been? _Goku's father? Bardock? Is that who Kami meant when he said Goku was only the second strongest?_ It didn't matter. All that mattered right now was survival. There was no way any of them could catch him-

He smacked right into Bardock's armored chest. The man didn't even flinch, watching coldly as Piccolo recoiled, clutching a hand to the new bruise on his forehead as he attempted to regain his balance. Suddenly, the demon felt a huge force of wind bear down on him, all but throwing him on the ground. He barely caught himself, landing on all fours as Bardock silently floated down to him. _What…was that!?_ He looked at Bardock-a man who bore a striking resemblance to Goku.

"Give me Kami."

It wasn't a request. It was a command, and that pissed Piccolo off even more. He lunged forward, arms reaching to grab the man to do-he wasn't sure. _Something._ Something to harm the man who bore such a resemblance to the one who had humiliated him so much. Bardock caught his hands, as if they were grappling. He didn't seem to put forth any effort as he pushed down, while Piccolo fought with all his strength. It felt like his hands were about to tear in half and he dropped to his knees, gasping from the pain.

Bardock looked down at the helpless demon. The third strongest being to walk this planet. Bardock didn't even feel any real resistance. It was getting frustrating. Since arriving on Earth, he'd yet to increase his power at all, all his work needed to just maintain the power level he currently had. His fighting had evolved by leaps and bounds on the planet-energy sensing, better control of his energy and his strength-but his power hadn't changed a bit. Without anyone capable of pushing him, without anything proper to work out in, and with this light gravity, he had no means of becoming stronger. He was Saiyan between battles, just like he had been for years.

Just thinking about it was pissing him off.

"Let me make something clear to Piccolo." Bardock spoke in a quiet, level voice. Through the direct physical contact, he could make Piccolo feel his energy without releasing it for everyone else to sense. Slowly, he began to let more and more of it show to the demon as he spoke. "You. Are. _Weak._ " He tightened his grip, and leaned down closer. "No matter how strong you get-whatever power you obtain-there will _always_ be somebody there, ready to squash you like an insect." About a third of his power was pressuring Piccolo now, who was covered in sweat and panting as it put a strain on his body. "You wanted to know how Kakarot got stronger than you?" There was a flash, and Piccolo was now feeling the bulk of Bardock's power, his body beginning to shake uncontrollably. The demon gasped, attempting to speak, but was unable to form words.

"Weak. Fragile. _Nothing_. Remember this feeling, Piccolo. It's called fear. Remember who made you feel it, and why." Bardock's face was now inches away from Piccolo's. "Go ahead. Get stronger and prove me wrong. I look forward to a challenge." He released Piccolo's hands and stepped back. The demon slumped to the side, gasping for air, his body covered in sweat and still shaking. Bardock spoke at a normal volume. "If you want a fight, come find us. We'll always be willing to give you a round. But if you start trying to harm other people, if you start killing-well, I won't _need_ to kill you to make you regret it."

Piccolo stared up at him, all animosity buried deep under the senseless, gripping fear.

"Now give me Kami."

There was a pause as Piccolo managed to get back up on all fours, then his neck swelled briefly and he spat out the little bottle. Bardock walked over and pulled the cap off, not touching the bottle itself. There was a flash, a puff of smoke, and Kami was suddenly next to them.

"Huh!? What-where am I?" Kami looked around. "Bardock? And-" He sprung back, bringing an arm back to strike at Piccolo, which Bardock caught.

"Don't bother. He's hardly in fighting shape." Kami stared at Piccolo, who was still on the ground.

"What…did you do?"

Bardock turned away. "I welcomed him to reality. Come on, the others are waiting." And without looking back, he flew away. Kami did look back at Piccolo, still on the ground, panting. He'd only had glimpses of Bardock's more brutal nature-the side of the man that would never quite go away-but clearly, Piccolo had taken the brunt of it. Slowly, he turned and flew after Bardock.

* * *

"Why leave him free?" Kami asked. They were flying slow, and the Guardian could tell Bardock had something on his mind.

"He's hardly going to go on a rampage."

"That wasn't the question." Bardock was silent for a moment, thinking.

"Because…because I think Kakarot was onto something during the tournament. This Piccolo isn't an exact copy of his father. He's removed from the pure evil your other half was. I'm not saying he's a good person, but…" He trailed off.

"I suppose…I hadn't thought of that. You're right that he isn't my original evil half. He might carry the core of Piccolo within him-that which ties him to me-but he isn't the same creature. He has room for growth. But that doesn't necessarily answer my question."

"It does. You know it does. I'm not willing to pass up on that kind of potential power."

"For the fight with this Freeza? You haven't even told Goku about him."

"I promised to explain everything to him if he won the tournament," Bardock said quietly. "But Piccolo…there's a difference in training to fight an idea and training to fight a man. He'll be in a slump for a while, but he'll be training harder than ever afterwards." There was another period of silence, unbroken until the city came into sight.

"How long? How long do you think we have?"

"For Freeza himself? Or his higher ranking goons? Maybe forever. But when a monstrously powerful madman decides he wants to conquer the universe, every planet is going to have to deal with him sooner or later. The more scouts that get sent here-the more that don't return-the worse it'll get. That's why we need everyone we can get, and power them up as much as we possibly can."

They came to a stop above the restaurant the others were currently eating at.

"Give my regards to your son and his friends." Kami said. "And extend an invitation to the humans. They are welcome to come and be trained by me, up at the Lookout." Bardock nodded, and Kami took off toward the Lookout. As he floated down toward the restaurant, he could hear laughter and conversation inside.

It was so hard to remember the danger they were in, when everyone else was so…happy.

* * *

Mount Paozu was beautiful, nature-filled place. The small house Goku and Chi-Chi were going to live in was next to a small stream, and beyond that, a lush green forest. A ways up the mountain there was a small, cleared lot, with building and housing materials. Bardock had no intention of living in the same house as his son and daughter-in-law, but that didn't mean he had to be far away. Gyumao waved at them as they flew down, Goku carrying Chi-Chi in his arms, Bardock a little behind them. Goku and Chi-Chi were still in their wedding clothes. They exchanged pleasantries, Chi-Chi eager to see the inside of the house. Bardock waved goodbye to them, patting his son on the shoulder and exchanging a polite handshake with Gyumao.

"Are you sure you don't want help Dad?" Goku asked anxiously. Bardock laughed.

"You're free to come up in the next couple of days if you want. But I wouldn't leave your new bride alone for very long, _especially_ today." Goku blushed and turned away, waving as he hurried into the house after Chi-Chi. "That kid is hopeless," Bardock said, shaking his head.

Gyumao clapped him on the shoulder. "At least they're happy." After a moment passed, he looked at Bardock in mild surprise.

"What?"

"Well, most people stagger or fall over when I do that."

Bardock shrugged. "I'm hardly most people" Gyumao nodded agreement with the sentiment.

"Do you want help building that little house up there?"

"No, I can handle it."

"Where did you get the supplies? I didn't pay for them."

"Are you kidding? After all the toys I gave Bulma to play with she owes me way more money than what a little house like that would cost." Gyumao had been brought up to speed about Bardock and Goku's origins. "Between the armor, scouter, and space pod, I'm pretty sure I've jumped Earth's technology forward a few hundred years."

"Space pod?"

"Yeah, I sent her mine and Kakarot's. But that's for later." He yawned. "I need to get some kind of roof up before I fall asleep." They said their goodbyes and Bardock began to walk through the forest. There was a path, of sorts, that had been cleared between Goku and Chi-Chi's house up to where Bardock planned to build his little shack. He could've flown, but the forest and stream cleared his mind. It was good for his head, too. Surprisingly, his headaches hadn't gotten any worse after the tournament. As far as he could guess, it was because things would've ended much the same way without his interference. Kakarot would've won, Kami would've been freed, and Piccolo would've gotten away. It was a welcome relief that they hadn't gotten even worse.

They still hurt like hell though.

When he reached the clearing, he decided he couldn't be bothered to put up even a temporary shelter. He pulled the mattress out from the pile of household items and flopped down on it, not bothering to remove his armor. Everything felt so…removed, up here. No urgency in anything. Peaceful. He had to remind himself it was temporary. That it was a dream. Earth wouldn't be left alone for long. There were two possibilities: either Freeza would send soldiers to seize the planet, or the remaining Saiyans would come looking for Kakarot.

He didn't know which would be worse.

 **Hooray, I finally finished the chapter! Aside from the scene with Bardock and Piccolo, and the fact that Goku just kinda trashed everyone at the tournament, I wasn't really sure what to do with this chapter, so I hope it came out good.**

 **Oh, and speaking of the tournament, I just want to re-iterate Goku's explanation for wrecking Piccolo so hard. It's the same kind of mentality that I mentioned when Tien fought Goku and Yamcha fought Kami-the trend in DBZ of the heroes and villains consistently underestimating their opponents. I just can't see Bardock encouraging that. After all, Future Trunks doesn't wait around for enemies to power up-he gets shit done, and the world is generally better off for it. So as I saw it, the 'stop waiting for them to get serious' mentality transferred from Bardock to Goku, and to an extent, from Goku to the other Z-Fighters. That being said, Piccolo was a cocky sonofabitch who never managed to accurately gauge Goku's power in the original manga. So yeah, he got beat up. Since his power level at the beginning of DBZ, (around 450 (I think)), is higher than it was in Dragon Ball, his strength during the tournament, as I guessed, was probably somewhere in the low to mid 300's. Goku is roughly the strength he was in the beginning of DBZ, around 500-550. (Bardock is around 25-26,000)**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Raditz**

"You sure you can't come?"

"Not today Kakarot. Not with my head like this."

"Well…ok."

"Get better soon Grandpa!"

"I will. You two go have fun now. I'm gonna lay down."

"Alright. Come on Gohan, let's go. Kintoun!"

* * *

Raditz landed in a small green field, surrounded by mountains. He got out of the pod slowly, floating out of the little crater, his scouter telling him there was a being on the edge. A short, pudgy little figure with a pathetic power level of 5. "So the inhabitants of this planet are still alive…dammit, Kakarot." The little earthling was attempting to speak, but what came out of his mouth was unintelligible, fearful. He was holding a long, wood and metal rod in his hands. He guessed it was some kind of blaster, a guess that was confirmed the earthlings pointed it at Raditz and fired. The projectile was slow, and he caught it easily. _Weak._ He was about to send it back-a fair bit faster, too-when his scouter alerted him to a new power level. He paused, locating it. An isolated island, holding a being with a power level of 648. There were a couple of weaker levels there as well, but Raditz didn't care. _So there you are Kakarot…and with a decent level as well! Perhaps you've just been slow._ The scouter locked on and Raditz began to fly toward it, the little Earthling forgotten. He crushed the little metal circle in his fingers, the dust flying behind him as he picked up speed. _I hope you remember your brother, Kakarot!_

* * *

"Wow Krillin, that was great!" Bulma exclaimed as Krillin powered down.

"Yeah, I know right? That training with Kami was intense, but it's really paid off."

"Is everyone this powerful?" Roshi asked. Krillin nodded vigorously. "That's something alright. You're stronger than Goku was when he fought Piccolo."

Krillin grinned. "That's what Kami said. Aside from Goku and Bardock, we're the strongest guys around now." He paused looking up at the sky. "Wonder where they are, anyway."

Bulma looked up as well, thoughtful. "If you guys have become this strong…I can't imagine what Goku must be like." Krillin seemed to deflate slightly, as if only just now thinking about it.

"Oh…yeah, I suppose training with Bardock would be something."

"Still, what you've done is very impressive Krillin," Roshi said. They turned to walk back inside when a question occurred to Krillin.

"Where's Yamcha? I would've thought you two would come together."

"Oh, yeah, you wouldn't have heard," Bulma said. "I broke up with him."

"What!? Why?"

"I don't know, it just got…boring, I guess. He couldn't decide whether to train or spend time with me and I honestly had other things to do. It wasn't like we made a big scene or anything."

Krillin's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "…It's because of Bardock, isn't it?"

"What?"

"You have a thing for the Saiyans!" Bulma hit him, blushing.

"Shut up! I do not!" Krillin clutched at his head while Roshi did his best to go unnoticed. Bulma crossed her arms and huffed. "Besides, even if I did-do you realize how _old_ Bardock is?" They looked at her, confused. "I mean, sure, I knew he was Goku's dad, but he's as old as _my_ dad!"

"Wow, really?" Krillin asked, and Bulma nodded.

"Or around there. He's not sure exactly how old he is, but he said Saiyans just age slower or something." She shuddered slightly. "And since then my dad pops into my thoughts whenever I think about it. It's awful."

"Forever tainted." Roshi muttered, and ducked another punch from Bulma.

"So…" Krillin started, wanting to get back onto the path of normal conversation. "Should we go inside, or wait out here-" He broke off suddenly spinning around and looking up toward the sky.

"Krillin?" Bulma asked, worried. Krillin was shaking slightly as he stared upwards, and after a moment, Roshi gasped as well, taking a step back.

"That's not Bardock or Goku…" Krillin said, still shaking. Suddenly, he turned back to them. "Get inside!"

"What?"

"Now! Before-" A figure came blasting out of the sky, kicking up dust and sand as he landed. The three of them stared, frozen, as he slowly rose to his feet.

* * *

Raditz looked at the three figures on the small island and silently cursed his scouter for misleading him. An old man, a woman, and the dwarf that had let off the high power level. Clearly Kakarot wasn't here. The dwarf was standing in front of them, dropped into a ready position, shaking in fear.

"Oh, are you a little guardian?" He sneered. He wasn't about to let someone with that kind of power level go on a planet they needed emptied.

"Who…are you?" The little man managed, his stance not changing.

"Do you really think you can stand up to me? Your power level is surely more than I would've expected from this planet, but it can't compare to mine."

Behind the dwarf, the woman gasped. "That's a scouter!" Raditz's head jerked to her, and she covered her mouth in fright. _How does she…_ An earthling with a power level of over 600. A woman who knew what a scouter was. Earthlings still covering the planet. He grit his teeth and dropped into his own ready stance.

"Where is Kakarot?" They looked at him uncomprehendingly, and his frustration led him to start crackling with power. "I'm not going to ask again. Tell me!" Perhaps the old man had been stronger when he was younger. He could've-when Kakarot was first attacking the planet-

He began to move toward the man, his rage building as different scenarios began to feel more and more likely. The dwarf appeared in front of him, still shaking, still ready to fight-his eyes filled with determination. Raditz was done talking. He struck out at the dwarf, his arm coming down in a chopping motion. To his surprise, the dwarf rushed in, using his height to his advantage as he entered Raditz's reach, and landed a hard punch in the Saiyans stomach. The armor absorbed most of the force, and what was left over wasn't enough to make so much as stagger back. He brought a knee up, to knock the earthling away, but he caught the knee in both hands and used it to flip up, sending his feet flying toward Raditz's face. He leaned back, dodging, and caught one of the legs with a free arm, turning and throwing him to the beach and away from him. He sent an energy blast after him, but the dwarf recovered himself in time to dodge of the way. Water erupted behind him, and in the kicked up sand, Raditz could just barely make out the light that indicated the earthling was charging his own energy blast.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha!"

Raditz caught the blast contemptuously, crushing it with one hand, but then realized the dwarf had disappeared. His scouter could only pick up the woman and old man still on the island. _They can hide their power levels!?_ Just as he realized that, the dwarf crashed into his size, using his momentum to add power. This time, he _did_ manage to move Raditz, with the sand giving poor footing, they traveled most of the ways down the small beach, before Raditz was able to throw the man from him, following up quickly with a series of punches the dwarf couldn't hope to fully block.

"Wait! Wait!" The woman was yelling, but they ignored her.

One went through, then two more, before Raditz leaned back enough to kick the little man across the island. He came to rest by the house and immediately flipped back up, firing a few weak Ki blasts that Raditz batted aside, ready to re-engage when the old man began shouting as well.

"Wait! Krillin, stand down!" The dwarf glanced over the old man in surprise, before immediately returning his focus to Raditz. _At least he has some good instincts._ Blood trickled down the earthling's chin, and he was panting badly, having given his all to keep up with Raditz. The Saiyan looked over at the two non-combatants, waiting.

"We didn't realize what you were asking at first," The woman said cautiously, hands raised in a placating gesture. "We don't know him as Kakarot, we know him as-"

"Krillin!" They all looked up, Raditz's scouter beeping to let him know of the new arrival. A man dropped down out of the sky in-between the two fighters, and immediately dropped to one knee and examined the dwarf. What looked like a small, puffy cloud drifted down behind the house. "Are you okay!?"

"Yeah…fine. But Goku, this guy-" He trailed off as 'Goku' stood up and turned to glare at Raditz. There was a tail wrapped around his rest, and his hair was black and spiky.

He could only be Kakarot.

Raditz crossed his arms. _How sickeningly like our father you look._ "Well, there you are Kakarot." A flash of surprise crossed his younger brothers face, and his eyes darted to Raditz tail.

"You're a…Saiyan?" He said, with some alarm.

Raditz frowned. "As are you. Or did you forget?"

Kakarot was confused. "What? No, I know I'm a Saiyan."

"Then why are there so many earthlings left!?" Kakarot looked at him blankly for a moment, before his expression began to darken again, and he settled into a ready stance. _What?_

The old man stepped forward. "Wait, please! Before you destroy my island!" They looked at him. "When Goku-Kakarot, landed here as a child, he suffered a fall and a serious head injury. He lost his memories of being a Saiyan, and his mission." Kakarot slowly nodded, his gaze cautiously returned to Raditz. "He grew up as an Earthling."

Slowly Raditz returned his gaze to his brothers. "Well then, the solution is simple." They all looked at him. "I came here to pick you up from a planet whose race had been completely destroyed." His eyes narrowed. "I don't see a reason why that has to change." A shudder passed through the little group, except for Kakarot, whose eyes narrowed. His answer was obvious.

Raditz's scouter was currently telling him Kakarot's power level was 701-barely higher than the dwarf's maximum-but after that skirmish, he knew they could conceal their power.

"Think about what you're doing, Kakarot." He warned.

His brother's stubborn glare never wavered. "You're not harming the people of this planet!"

Resigned to teaching Kakarot a lesson, Raditz dropped back into his ready stance. "I'd like to see you stop me!"

They squared off for a moment, before rushing forward, punches meeting each other in the in the sand of the beach. The shockwave rocked the other residents of the islands, and they quickly stepped back, Kakarot aiming a high kick at Raditz head, which he blocked before kicking out toward Kakarot's stomach. Kakarot jumped back, and Raditz pressed forward. Kakarot caught his next punch and attempted a response of his own, which Raditz caught in return, they strained for a moment, but Raditz could tell he had the upper hand.

He turned slightly, and threw Kakarot away from him, flying after him as they left the island behind. Kakarot quickly regained control and fired Ki blasts at the approaching Raditz, who swerved around them with ease. He caught up and landed a hard knee to Kakarot's jaw, changing momentum to send him upwards. Raditz followed and managed to get 3 solid gut punches before Kakarot spun away, his foot barely missing Raditz's face. Kakarot righted himself and immediately brought his hands back, ignoring the blood trickling down his chin.

"Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha!"

Raditz barely flew out of the way of the blast-one much larger than the dwarf had fired-and flew under it towards Kakarot. The younger Saiyan had apparently anticipated this, breaking off the initial blast and firing a smaller, one-handed attack down at Raditz. This time, he couldn't quite get out of the way, and the blast skimmed his shoulder, taking the armor pad with it. It absorbed enough of the blow that his skin wasn't even broken, but Raditz was pissed nonetheless. He flashed upward, on eye level with Kakarot, and rushed in. They began trading blows, punches and kicks flying between them, most being dodged or blocked, but a few landing direct hits. Raditz had the advantage, due to his armor, and he allowed the next punch Kakarot threw to hit him directly in the chest, the armor absorbing most of the force, while he drew his hand back and smacked Kakarot across the face, sending him crashing back down into the ocean.

Kakarot burst back out of the water in no time, wiping blood off his chin and glared at Raditz. Raditz floated down, smirking.

"It pays to be prepared, Kakarot." His brother let out a growl of frustration, before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. Raditz frowned. "And what are you doing now? Making peace with yourself?" Kakarot released his breath and opened his eyes, a grin spreading across his face.

"Not quite!" He flashed forward, closing the distance between them and swiped a hand across Raditz's armored chest.

The armor came away like it was made of wood.

"What!?" Raditz yelled, as Kakarot reversed the direction of his arm and elbowed Raditz in his newly exposed side, before quickly turning in the air and delivering a hard kick to Raditz's chin, sending him spinning away through the air. He pressed his advantage, flying after Raditz as fast as he could, crashing into him right above the water and carrying them both back toward the island. Water erupted on either side due to the force of their passage. Right before they reached the island, Raditz let out a roar of frustration and energy erupted all around him in a circle, separating them and sending Kakarot flying back several feet. They both righted themselves and flew upwards, facing off above the island.

They were both panting, hovering in the air by the island. It was almost inconceivable. Kakarot had been born with a power level of _two_. And yet he was on par with Raditz in almost every aspect. As far as he could tell, he was stronger, and they were about equal in speed, but Kakarot's ability to sense and control his own energy levels were giving him an undeniable edge in an otherwise evenly matched battle. _But how!? I can see the earthlings teaching him energy control, but it doesn't seem possible that they could him make this strong!_

Kakarot straightened upright, fire still in his eyes. His fighting style was surprisingly similar to Raditz, more free with his Ki attacks than the earthling had been. They glared at each other for a moment, before a sudden, panicked beeping from Raditz's scouter made him realize the question he should've been asking all along.

 _If Kakarot lost his memory, how do they all know about Saiyans?_

His scouter shrieked before exploding as a massive energy blast split the air between the two of them, missing Raditz by inches. He stared, frozen in horror as Kakarot stared up above them. Raditz was quite sure he could've died right there, vaporized into nothingness.

And then a horribly, jarringly familiar voice began yelling.

"Kakarot what the HELL!? Do I not get a single fucking day to myself!? I can't believe I had to come all the way out here because you couldn't fight you own damn battles!" The man that could only be Bardock descended to be on level with them, irate. Kakarot was red-faced, and glanced over to the island, where the woman had her hands over a child's head.

"I was holding my own-"

"If you think that, you need to go to Kami and get some more fucking lessons!" Bardock shouted over him. "Because he definitely has more energy lef-" Bardock broke off abruptly, having glanced at Raditz for the first time. Their eyes met, and the blood slowly drained out of Bardock's face. "…Raditz?"

He sounded unsure, not believing the name coming out of his own mouth. Raditz crossed his arms and glared at him, fighting to maintain his composure. "Who else would've bothered coming out here?"

"Wh-wait what!?" Kakarot exclaimed, eyes widening as he looked back and forth between the two of them.

Raditz didn't even look at him, eyes trained on Bardock. The man seemed certainly shaken to see him, but if he was here, that meant he had been hiding out from Frieza this whole time.

And Raditz still served the emperor.

"Dad-really? He's really-"

"Yes, Kakarot." Bardock said softly, quieting him. "This is Raditz. Your brother." Bardock sounded like he had something stuck in his throat. "And my son."

Raditz gave a contemptuous snort. "That," he declared, "is a matter of opinion." Bardock's eyes widened for a moment, and he looked like he'd been slapped, before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Kakarot merely looked confused.

Bardock opened his eyes, and looked calm. "So you came out here for Kakarot."

It wasn't a question. "And found a great deal more than I expected." Raditz said, eyes narrowed. "Been building an army out here, have you?" To his surprise, Bardock shook his head.

"No, just encouraging them to train harder. I'm only here for Kakarot. I was as surprised as you are to find this planet still thriving."

Raditz crossed his arms. "And you didn't wipe them out?"

Bardock gave a slight shrug. "Didn't see the point. Besides, Kakarot's rather…protective."

"I noticed," Raditz said dryly.

Bardock thought for a moment. "I…should probably go fill them in, before they think we need help or something." And so saying, he drifted down toward the island, leaving the two of them alone.

"You're...really Raditz?" Kakarot asked tentatively.

Raditz crossed his arms and looked at him. "Who did you think I was?"

Kakarot rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I... don't know. We didn't really take time to talk, did we? But...if you're really my brother, then there's a lot of people you should meet! There's Chi-Chi and Gohan and-"

"Kakarot." Kakarot stopped and looked over at Bardock, already back, in surprise. The man shook his head slightly, before looking at Raditz. "What happened to your scouter?"

"You happened." Raditz replied sourly. "That blast of yours destroyed it."

Bardock swore and closed his eyes briefly, as if in pain. "Then that would send a message back to command."

The thought hadn't occurred to Raditz, but he nodded. "I suppose." Bardock sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Dad?" Kakarot asked, nervous. Something about that bothered Raditz. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised Kakarot was that comfortable around Bardock, and yet...

"How long have you been here?" Raditz asked.

"...Huh? Oh, about...8 years, give or take." Bardock seemed lost in thought. Kakarot was looking back and forth between the two of them, as if unsure whether or not he could speak. Bardock dropped his hand and turned to Raditz, a serious look on his face. "Raditz, what are you going to do?"

Raditz hadn't thought that far ahead. His eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Bardock considered him for a moment. "It should be obvious I'm not part of Frieza's forces anymore." Raditz inclined his head. "What…what were you told about Planet Vegeta?" His tone was hesitant, and Raditz had a sinking feeling his suspicions were correct.

"I suppose that question means it wasn't a meteor."

Bardock shook his head. "It was Frieza. He blew up the planet personally…after Dodoria killed my entire squad." Raditz stared at him. Bardock looked at him for a moment, before sighing. "So it's all news to you then. Frieza decided to wipe out the Saiyans. He sent men to kill the few teams off the planet and collected all but 3 Saiyans on it. Everyone was supposed to be dead except for you, Vegeta, and-well, I'd assumed Nappa, since he'd taken on the role of Vegeta's protector." Raditz nodded in confirmation, his head spinning. He'd known-everyone had known-that the odds of meteor large enough to completely destroy a planet showing up out nowhere and taking out Planet Vegeta were just ridiculous. But to know that Frieza actually had the power to just destroy the planet…

"… _Why?_ " The question felt ripped from him, and he stared at Bardock, wishing the man had an explanation.

Bardock just shrugged. "I don't know. After the mission on Kanassa I took a bit of a…nasty hit. Not any real damage but I was unconscious for a while, and while I was out Frieza sent down another mission for us. We didn't get a day to rest. By the time I was out of infirmary and on the planet…" He trailed off for a moment, before continuing. "Everyone was dead. Dodoria got me and almost killed me too. I didn't get back to Vegeta in time and it was destroyed." They were all silent. Raditz had done his best to block the Saiyans from his mind over the years, not wanting to indulge in 'what-if' thoughts. It was all flooding back now. Kakarot was looking at the two of them in concern.

Bardock took a deep breath and continued. "After that-I thought you were dead. I went looking for Kakarot and the only place I knew of to find information were in Frieza's bases." A wry smile touched his face. "I've destroyed a fair few. Whether he knows it was me that did it or not, I'm definitely an enemy of his damned empire." The smile faded, and he caught and held Raditz's gaze. "So I'll ask again. What are you going to do? Head back? Stay here?"

"Would you allow me to leave?" Raditz challenged. Something like sadness flashed across Bardock's face.

"Of course I would," He said softly.

Raditz clenched his fists. _Not a very Saiyan response._ "And what would I be doing if I stay here?"

Bardock glanced at Kakarot before responding. "Helping us prepare for whoever comes to check on you."

Raditz narrowed his eyes. "You know it'll probably be the other two. Do you really think you can handle them?"

"Yes." Bardock said simply. "But the others? Not a chance. So we need to train."

"And you think you can prepare them?"

Bardock sighed. "Honestly? I'm not sure. They haven't gained all that much power over the past few years-that includes you, Kakarot-but they also haven't had a real threat looming over them. That changes things. And with you…" Raditz stared at him, and Bardock forcefully continued. "With you here, it would make a big difference with Kakarot. You have the edge on him right now, but it's still close. I don't make a great sparring partner, and there's nobody else here that can keep pace."

Raditz growled. "So you just want me around as a sparring partner?"

"It's not like only one of you would get stronger!" Bardock snapped back. "Look-how long is it going to take for them to get here?"

Raditz was taken aback by the sudden change in topic, but answered anyway. "Assuming it will be Vegeta and Nappa, and assuming they leave right away, I'd give it about a year."

"Then…then can you just stay, for a year?" Bardock asked. "Train with us. You'll get stronger, and you can decide what to do when they get here. And if that means you side with them…" He looked Raditz in the eye. "Then so be it."

Slowly, Raditz nodded. His mission wasn't failed yet, technically-and he wanted to see if Bardock was as strong as he claimed to be. He was certainly stronger than Raditz, and seemed willing to teach-more than Nappa or Vegeta had ever been, that was for sure.

 _Alright Bardock, I'll give you a chance. You get one year-and then I'll decide if I'm better off or not. You might be powerful…but you can't defend against an attack if you don't know it's coming._

"Good," Bardock said, holding back a sigh of relief. He felt a weight lift from his shoulders. He shouldn't be surprised at Raditz's hostility, but the shock of seeing him had left him reeling. His head was still pounding, and he swore it was getting worse by the second. _Something just changed…what did I prevent here?_ "Now, we shouldn't waste any time getting started. Krillin can go find all the others and let them know what's coming, and Bulma-" Another flash of pain. He almost winced, but stopped himself. With Raditz still on the fence, it was a good idea to show as little weakness as possible. "-Bulma's been working on something for me. Hopefully she's got at least a rough version of it done."

"What?" Kakarot asked, curiously.

"An artificial gravity simulator." Bardock responded. Kakarot obviously didn't understand, so he elaborated. "I don't know if I ever mentioned it before, but Planet Vegeta had higher gravity than Earth does. Using the Earth as a base, we normally lived at around 10 times the gravity here. It's why our bodies are naturally tougher than Earthlings. We're built for higher gravity."

"There's actually someone here capable of building that?" Raditz sounded like he wasn't sure whether to be disbelieving or impressed.

"Well, I suppose we'll find out when we ask her," Bardock said. "She's had my scouter and our pods to study for years now. Which reminds me, if you want another scouter, ask her. Though you won't need one for very long." Raditz grunted his understanding, and Bardock continued. "Also might want to get your armor checked. I don't know how it'll compare to what she's made."

Raditz raised an eyebrow. "She's _made_ suits like these?"

Bardock nodded, a slight smile on his face. "She's quite the scientist. Do you have anything, by the way? She's had success replicating our tech before."

Raditz hesitated, which told Bardock that he definitely _did_ have something. It just remained to be seen whether he would share it or not.

"…Yes…but I'm not sure if Earth is capable of reproducing it." Bardock gestured for him to show them, and he reached into a bag at his waist. He pulled out a steel vial, with green liquid inside of it. Bardock's eyes widened in surprise.

"What?" Kakarot asked, looking frustrated at being left out. "What is it?"

"Saibaman." Raditz answered. "They're a cultivated life-form. We put the liquid into suitable soil, and it quickly grows into a decent leveled soldier."

"They were barely out of the developmental stage when I left," Bardock said. "What kind of power can they reach now?"

"Still depends on soil quality." Raditz said off-handedly. "Anywhere from 500-1500 on normal soil. I heard a rumor that some scientists made special soil that can grow them upwards of 2000, but I don't know if there was any truth to it."

Bardock crossed his arms, troubled. "Saibamen would make for excellent training, for everyone, but things could get out of hand easily."

"They do still have a tendency to self-destruct when they're losing." Raditz added, shrugging.

"I think it's worth looking into. Just…have to make sure we're there when she tries planting some." Another crack of pain. It was becoming clear that this conversation was changing their timeline more and more-which meant that Bulma probably would be able to recreate Saibamen. He just really did have to make sure he was there.

"Dad? You okay?" Apparently that one had been visible.

"Fine." He grunted. It didn't really matter if he was fine or not. He caught Raditz's expression. "I get headaches." He said shortly, not offering any explanation. Raditz snorted in derision. _Right so…check with Bulma about gravity and Saibamen…get the others training…and…_ He sighed inwardly. This part was not going to be fun.

"Then all that's left is…Gohan." They stared at him.

"Who?" Raditz asked.

"My son," Kakarot said, his voice suddenly hard. He turned to face Bardock fully. "What _about_ him?"

"We've talked about this, Kakarot-"

"No, I don't think we have!" Kakarot said. "You aren't seriously thinking of involving him in this?"

His head hurt, and he definitely wasn't in the mood for this. "If you're asking if I want to, then no. But I know you've sensed the kind of power he has, and we-"

"And we said we'd train him when he was _older_!" Kakarot snapped.

" _I_ told you that we'd train him when we needed to!" Bardock yelled, drowning out Kakarot. "I _wanted_ it to be when he was older, but we just ran out of time!"

"He's still just a little kid!" Kakarot protested.

"That never stopped you!"

"I was way older than Gohan when I started fighting for real! Besides, I was raised differently."

"Don't be an idiot, Kakarot!" Bardock hissed. "Do you think I've brought him along to training for _fun_? I've made sure he was exposed to it. He's already stronger than you were when you were twice his age! I don't know how much more I can explain to you that if we don't have _everyone_ as strong as they can possibly be, _WE WILL ALL DIE!_ " He thundered.

They were all silent for a moment, Raditz watching the two in shock.

Bardock fought to keep himself from shaking, and to keep the fear out of his voice. "I suppose you can't understand it. Freeza is a monster. He destroyed a planet filled with one of the strongest races in the galaxy with a flick of his finger. He all but ended the Saiyans on a _whim_. And I know, _I know_ that for the power he's shown, it's a fraction of what he's capable of. We need to be ready to fight. _All_ of us. If you're not ready to defend Earth, you have to be ready to abandon it. We'd all have to pile up on spaceships and go hide out in space, constantly in danger of being discovered and killed. Is _that_ what you want?" Kakarot looked away, shame on his face, and Bardock sighed. "We aren't enough, by ourselves. Gohan might be your son, but he's my grandson too. I don't want him involved in this-hell, any more than I want you or me in this. But we don't have a choice."

Slowly, Kakarot nodded. "Alright. But you have to tell Chi-Chi." Bardock smiled in relief. "Still-he can't train with us. Were you planning on having him go up to Kami's?"

"Not…exactly." Bardock said uncomfortably, knowing they were moving on to the next bomb.

"What do you mean?" Kakarot asked, confused.

"He'd certainly be spending some time on the Lookout, but we-Kami and I-have been talking with Piccolo and-"

"WHAT!?"

"Kakarot-" Bardock said, attempting to stall him, but Kakarot ignored him, furious.

"You have got to be joking! It's bad enough you want him involved, but you want him to train with _Piccolo!?_ Absolutely not!"

"Nobody else could!" Bardock insisted. "He's the only one who wouldn't baby him!"

"Well, yeah, I can follow you there, since there's a good chance he'd just _kill him!"_

"I wouldn't be suggesting it if I thought there was a chance-"

"And how do you know there isn't!?"

"You wanted to give him a second chance back at the tournament! And he's had years since then! We haven't just left him alone to stew in his anger!"

"Wanting a second round is a damn sight different than trusting him with my son for a whole year!"

"Would you just _listen!?_ I told you, Kami and I have been talking to him for a while! They'd start out on the Lookout and Kami would make sure to monitor their energy when they left. We aren't stupid!"

"You could've fooled me!" Kakarot was getting dangerously close to striking him. "You think I've forgotten about Piccolo either? I don't care how much training they do on the Lookout, the moment they leave Piccolo is strong enough to just kill Gohan, and he _knows_ you can't kill him back!"

"Have you just ignored your son?" Bardock asked. "Gohan is a lot stronger than you think. Training him on the Lookout is meant to teach him how to handle his power. After that, _no_ , Piccolo could not just off him. Nor do I think he would, even given the chance." Their eyes met. "You're the one that said he wasn't all bad Kakarot. I believe you now."

Kakarot just shook his head. "You want me to go off and train with you, leave my family behind for a year. You want me to send Gohan off to train with my worst enemy. You want me to throw my family away!"

"I want you to help protect it," Bardock said. "And trust me-Piccolo has never been your worst enemy."

"Trust you?" Kakarot said disbelievingly. " _Trust_ you? Why the hell should I!?"

Raditz opened his mouth to say something, seeing the expression on Bardock's face, but Kakarot rolled on.

"You just show up one day, out of nowhere, say you're my father and immediately start teaching me how to fight people! And that's all you've ever done! Now you want me to all but sacrifice my family to get ready to fight a war that _you_ brought on us, and you just tell me to _trust you_ and go along with it all!? What the hell have you done, huh? What have you given up!?"

Bardock's vision had gone red. His head fucking _hurt_ , and here was Kakarot, accusing _him_ of _not_ sacrificing _anything_?

"What have _I_ given up? What have _I_ done?" He could feel himself shaking, crackling with power as all his pent-up anger came flooding out. "What the fuck HAVEN'T I done for you and your fucking perfect little life!? I abandoned my race, my friends, my wife, and my whole fucking life just to go _looking_ for you! So we could _do_ something about it! And I get here to find you've been living in a fucking sunshine-y little world, surrounded by friends and people who care about you, not even remembering what you'd lost! And I played along. I went easy on you, I let you enjoy what you had. But I never lied to you about what was coming. I never lied to you about who I was, what I'd done, and what I could do. We're _Killers_ , Kakarot, and you're not getting out of that. I let you pretend, I've let you pretend for years, while you built your little family and trained half as hard as you should've, I _let_ you! And all this time I've spent holding back for you, containing myself for you, _all of this bullshit, for you!_ "

He powered up to his maximum, the light let off by his energy darkening the sky and showing on both of his sons shocked faces. " _THIS_ is what I am! This is what I should be! But I haven't been! I haven't been a Saiyan for decades! _FOR YOU!"_ Energy was building up in his hands, crackling with the intensity. "I feel like I've been living in a world made of paper! If I make a single fucking miss-step I'm going to break something, or someone! I've done all of this so we might have a chance! I've given up _everything_! _AND IT ISN'T ENOUGH!"_ He threw the energy he'd been holding down into the ocean, and the ocean responded. Waves erupted in every direction, the spray even catching them where they floated. The ground shook slightly, and yelling could be heard from Roshi's island.

"Krillin! Break the wave!"

Two blue rays of light were fired at the oncoming water, breaking the crest while the rest of the water flowed around them. The island and everyone on it was drenched, but intact.

They all floated in silence, the only noise being Bardock's panting as he stared down at the water, slowly returning to normal as it rushed into the hole he'd made. He'd barely pulled enough power in time to avoid destroying the planet completely.

"It isn't enough." He repeated, quietly. "And I don't know if it ever will be. We don't have a choice but to fight." Slowly he looked up at the two of them, speaking in the same quiet, measured voice. "You have a few days. Talk to Bulma and introduce Raditz to everyone. Meet me on the Lookout when you're ready." Without another word, he turned away and flew off, out of sight in seconds. They watched him go, at a loss for words.

"I…I guess…" Kakarot stuttered a few times, before looking away. "Come on." He said quietly, turning and slowly floating down toward the island. Raditz stared after Bardock for another couple of seconds, before following his brother.

* * *

"I wondered if you'd turn up here." Kami said, as Bardock lighted down on the Lookout.

Bardock didn't respond at first, walking past him and into the Lookout, where a pitcher of water sat. He took a long drink before setting the pitcher back down and walking back outside, sitting down on the steps heavily.

"Throat hurt?" Kami asked.

"Suppose you heard every word?"

"A bad habit of mine. How's your head?"

"Fine. It peaked when…well, I bet you can guess. All but gone, now."

"Unfortunate timing." Kami's tone made it clear that he didn't think it was a coincidence.

"A lot changed today."

Kami hummed in agreement. It had been a big decision, confiding in Kami. But not telling anyone what he knew had been driving him crazy, and Kami had been a good friend. Trustworthy.

"What do you think would have happened otherwise?"

Bardock drew a hand across his face. "I…don't know. I don't think I want to know. I _never_ would've thought-I thought Raditz was dead. But they were fighting for real, before I showed up. And it was only Kakarot I saw in that vision."

"That doesn't mean today would've ended in disaster."

"It almost did anyway. I could've killed Raditz, you know? With that blast. I didn't decide until the last minute to just break up the fighting." He sighed and put a hand over his eyes. "These damn headaches put me in such a bad mood."

"I've already told you the best way to stop them from getting worst."

"And I've told you. I'm not going to stop trying to make the best future I can."

Kami smiled sadly. "I know. And I know you won't listen to me, no matter how reasonable I sound. But Bardock-they're still getting worse. With every decision you make, they jump to a new level. Who's to say they'll only ever be _just_ painful? You could kill yourself with this."

"Then that's how I die." Bardock said grimly. "But anyway-what did you make of Raditz?"

"An awful lot of hostility." Kami responded immediately. "He doesn't seem to like you much."

"Thanks for being blunt." Bardock said, chuckling. "Though his attitude's hardly surprising." Kami raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and Bardock elaborated. "I was a shitty father. Always off on missions and generally ignoring him."

"There was a moment, at the end there. I think he felt sorry for you."

Bardock snorted. "I doubt it. Maybe pity for an old wreck of a Saiyan."

"Not that old."

"I'm pretty sure anywhere above 60 is considered old on this planet."

"Talk to me when you hit 300." Kami said dryly.

"You think you're clever, but there's a fair chance I will. Saiyans are pretty long-lived by this planets time-keeping."

" _If_ you do, I'll be 600." Kami said, an air of finality in his words. "So there."

Bardock smiled and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He released it and stood up, stretching.

"Thanks, Kami."

"I can't help but feel that my duties as Guardian have been relegated to 'keeping Bardock in a good enough mood so he doesn't destroy the planet.'"

Bardock raised an eyebrow at him, and the old Guardian smiled. "But you're welcome, of course."

* * *

"Hey, Vegeta."

"What is it, Nappa?"

"Just got an alert. Seems Raditz ran into some trouble on his little trip. His scouters been destroyed."

"Really? Where was he going?"

"Said he was going to find his brother on the planet he got sent to. Back when he was a kid."

Vegeta didn't respond at first, thinking. "Just the scouter was destroyed? No confirmed death?"

Nappa seemed a little confused at the question. "Uh…no, just the automatic scouter message."

"Do you have the planet on file?"

"Yeah."

"Then we're scrapping this mission. Set our co-ordinates."

"Vegeta?"

"I'd wager there's a fair chance our little Raditz is still alive." Vegeta said, humor in his voice. "Though that might change once we get there."

"You want to explain?"

"No, Nappa." Vegeta grinned. "This should make for a good surprise."

 **Well would you look at that! This chapter only took... (checks watch) …too long. Oops. (Sorry!) So…for once, I don't actually have a lot to say. (But that's never stopped me before.) The Earthlings have already undergone Kami's training, so they're a fair bit stronger than at the original start of DBZ, but since they ended up at Kami's with lower levels than the start of DBZ, they aren't as strong as they were post-training. And…yeah. Nothing else really needs clearing up. One of the reasons this took so long to get this out was because I really wanted to get Bardock's rant right, and I don't know if I succeeded in that. Feedback would be greatly appreciated!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Training, Innovation, and Time**

"Here it is!"

Bulma was quite proud of her work. Manipulating gravity was no mean feat, and while she could not claim to have been the pioneer of gravity research- there were plenty of theories and small-scale effects research, all studying how gravity affects a body- she was certain that she had created the first really successful gravity enhancer. Bardock had made it rather simple- not easy, but simple.

 _"Don't worry about the effects the increased gravity will have. We can handle it. Just make it so we can increase the gravity."_

"It can go up to just about 30x Earth's normal gravity, though maxing it out does put a strain on the machine. I'm still working out how to get it to go higher without affecting the area outside the pod."

"30x will be plenty for a while, at least. I'd sooner have Saibamen to practice against." Bardock shot her a questioning look, and she frowned slightly.

"My dad's looking into that right now." Bardock's eyes widened slightly, and she hurriedly produced the small bag that contained Raditz's single Saibaman. "Don't worry, there's no way I'd let him have the actual thing. But we aren't very clear on what exactly we need to do, so we're starting from the very beginning. Chemical makeup and the like."

"That's all very fascinating, but are we going to be doing anything today?" Raditz asked impatiently.

Bulma glared at him. She'd decided that she didn't particularly like Bardock's eldest, not least because his arrival precipitated the near death of 3 people. (Admittedly including himself, but it was really his own fault, in her opinion.) Since he had arrived he had been nothing but rude, brushing off his new family members, snubbing Earth's technological prowess, and burning any bridges Goku and Bardock seemed willing to build.

Even more annoying was the fact that Bardock seemed to barely notice Raditz's behavior. He'd never had a problem telling off Goku if he had accidentally done something rude, but Raditz was apparently getting something of a free pass. Whether he noticed or not.

"Are the controls in here or out there?"

"Both. I needed to be able to test it without putting myself in danger, but I know you guys wouldn't want to have to go all the way out to change the settings."

The gravity chamber was built at the center of a small complex, with a bunkhouse, kitchen area, control room, rest area, showers, and no fewer than 4 fully stocked fridges, with 2 back-up freezers. She expected the food to last roughly a week, but it seemed a small price to pay in exchange for the safety of the entire planet.

"Thanks." Bardock grunted distractedly, eyes trained on the center console. "Can you go fire it up?"

"Yeah. Do you want to start at-"

"Max it."

"Yeah, I saw that coming." She sighed, hurrying out the door. The training chamber was by far the largest area in the complex, and everything else was circled around it. There was only one door- a necessary inconvenience- and of course she'd put the control room at the farthest point. Ergonomics hadn't been on her mind when designing the place.

After what seemed like _far_ too much effort for such a menial task, she reached the control center room. Through the small window she could see the two impatient Saiyans pacing the room, their father still examining the machine.

Everything was already set to go straight to 30 G's-she knew the Saiyans that well, at least- and so all she did was flip the lever, before sitting down to watch.

* * *

" _Don't see any reason not to go all out from the start."_

 _Bardock stood up fully on the mat, finishing his stretching._

" _I can think of a few," Toma said dryly. "Like my ribs. And my nose. And my-"_

" _Toma, do us a favor and stop being a wimp." Toma turned and scowled at Seripa._

" _Unless you'd rather?"_

" _I'd love to!"_

" _Ha! Like you'd do any better."_

" _Keep laughing, fatass! I'll take you on first!"_

 _Seripa stomped over to Panpukin, ready to fight. The large man just laughed as she approached, though Toteppo took a not so subtle step back._

 _Toma and Bardock exchanged an amused glance, before they heard a distinctive crash and saw a Panpukin-shaped hole in the wall._

" _Stop him before she kills him?" Toma asked._

" _Ehh…"_

" _Bardock..."_

" _Fine, fine." Panpukin crashed back out of the wall, roaring at Seripa, but before he'd taken three steps, Bardock's energy blast caught him and carried him up to the corner, exploding and dropping him unceremoniously to the ground._

" _Behave, you two!" Bardock called over, as Seripa burst out laughing. "I feel like a babysitter." Bardock grumbled._

" _Well, you are the only one here with experience." Toma said cheerfully._

 _Bardock made a face. "Ugh, don't remind me. Never again."_

 _Toma just laughed. "I don't think that's a promise you can keep, Bardock. He's your kid. You're gonna have to look after him sometimes."_

" _Whatever. Can we just get going? Standing around is boring."_

" _Whatever you say, Boss."_

* * *

The machines hum was surprisingly quiet as it powered up.

"I still find it hard to believe she just threw this together." Raditz said, the machine claiming his attention. "The Empire doesn't have technology like this!"

"It was hardly 'thrown together.'" Bardock pointed out. "She's been working on the tech for years now. And those capsules make putting up a full facility simple."

The capsules had no meaningful equivalent in Frieza's empire- the tyrant had the requisite manpower to set get any building set up in short order.

"Besides, I'm sure Freeza could have something like this commissioned. There's just never been any reason too."

"And Bulma's really smart." Kakarot chimed in helpfully.

A loud beeping drew their attention to screen up at the top of the machine, where a screen had turned on, displaying the current gravity level.

 _1.0 G  
_  
"Here we go!" Kakarot was acting like they were at some sort of amusement park, the promise of a new training style greatly appealing to him. It made Bardock think of his excitement back when they had been training together on the Lookout.

 _Beep_

 _2.0 G_

The hum of the machine gradually grew louder as the gravity intensified.

 _Beep  
Beep  
Beep  
_  
When the machine hit 5 G's, Kakarot let out a little gasp of surprise, tensing and relaxing his muscles. Raditz let out a small derisive snort, neither him nor Bardock really feeling the gravity yet.

"This is bracing!" Kakarot said. "It's like wearing weighted clothes, but we don't have to actually...wear them." He finished weakly, glancing at his family members.

 _Beep  
_  
"Not yet anyway," Bardock said, a grim smile on his face as both Raditz and Kakarot flashed him a surprised look. "Besides, if you think this is heavy, just wait."

 _Beep_

They stood in silence while the machine slowly counted up, Kakarot doing some light stretching.

When it hit 10 G's, Bardock spoke. "This is what the gravity was like on our home planet." Goku stood up, stopping his stretching and looking curiously at the machine. "You never got the chance to live under it, of course, but it's what you built for. That's why normal Earth weapons could never really hurt you." Kakarot hummed in thought as the machine continued its slow increase.

"What was it like? On our home planet?" Kakarot asked curiously.

Rather than answering, Bardock looked at Raditz, who seemed to be startled out of a daze.

"What? Why are you looking at me?"

"I'm curious as how you'd answer." In truth, he just didn't feel like answering. He and Kakarot had had similar conversations before, and he didn't have anything new to offer. The gravity was clearly taking its toll on them, even as they played it off. The machine wasn't at 20 G's yet, and they were both sweating freely, Kakarot's breathing heavy.

"Well..." Raditz began awkwardly, Kakarot's full attention on him. "It was... different, from what I've seen on this planet. Everything was done with purpose. Everyone had a clear goal. Getting stronger."

"How's that different from here?"

"He means _everyone_." Bardock answered mildly. "On the same scale we train. Even counting all the martial artists on Earth, they make up a very small part of the population."

"There weren't Saiyan civilians." Raditz concluded. "There were warriors, and there were those who couldn't make it as warriors. No in-between."

 _Beep_

 _20G  
_  
The boys were doing their best to pretend that the gravity wasn't bothering them, but Bardock knew it couldn't last. Even he was feeling the effects of the gravity now. He was simply strong enough to not let it affect him. Kakarot had been right. This would be a bracing area to train in.

"So what exactly were the other Saiyans like? The ones that couldn't make the cut?" Kakarot asked through gritted teeth, still panting. Bardock and Raditz exchanged a look, neither really wanting to answer.

"Guys?"

Bardock sighed. "Most were...bitter. They normally just lacked either a sense for battle, or just couldn't raise their power levels to anything decent. They would just be left behind or sent on suicide missions."

"Not all of them," Raditz said softly, and Bardock nodded, Kakarot looking at them curiously.

"Are you talking about…"

"Your mother." Bardock said, managing to keep his voice even. "She just didn't have the temperament for it. She liked fighting the way all Saiyans do, but...not what we actually _did_. She was more comfortable staying home."

 _Beep_

 _25 G_

Kakarot couldn't withstand the gravity anymore, and despite his efforts, he started to sink to the floor of the training room, Raditz close behind. Bardock simply brought more power to bear. Though he wouldn't admit it, even he would have some trouble actually moving and training at gravity this intense, but for just standing? He made that, at least, look easy.

 _Beep_

 _30 G_

Kakarot and Raditz were both panting, on their hands and knees as the gravity pushed on them. Bardock remained standing, arms crossed, as he had been the entire time, though there was a faint glow around him.

He looked down at his two sons.

"Stand up."

There was a blare of noise, and then Bulma could be heard over an intercom.

" _Bardock? Maybe we should-_ "

He held up a hand and she fell silent. He kept his gaze on the others.

"Stand. Up."

There was a long moment, where the only noise was the younger men's panting. Then with a massive effort, Kakarot pulled himself up to one knee, Raditz following. That appeared to be their limit, but Bardock wasn't satisfied, remaining stone-faced as he watched them.

Ultimately, It was Raditz who stood up first. He threw his head back as he got his feet firmly under him, and Bardock could see the gleam of triumph in his eyes. It wasn't too surprising-Raditz had spent time living on Vegeta, after all-but what really caught Bardock's attention was Raditz, seconds after getting his balance, turned to Kakarot and offered him a hand up, which Kakarot accepted. Through a combined effort, Kakarot got to his feet, and Raditz released his grip, both men grinning. The sight brought a smile to Bardock's face as well.

"Good," He said simply, walking past them and hitting a few buttons on the console. The hum of the machine began to fall away, the gravity falling far faster than it had written, and he heard an intake of surprise behind him as the gravity returned to normal. "Let your muscles relax and get back to normal. If you feel up to it after you rest, get started on some light exercise in 5 G's." He began to walk toward the door, pausing before exiting the room. "I'm gonna see Bulma home." He looked back at them. "Good job." Kakarot grinned tiredly, and while Raditz didn't give him a smile, the look he received was bereft of his usual animosity.

He left the room.

* * *

"If they were human-"

"They aren't."

"I _know_ they aren't. I'm just saying that could've gone worse. That kind of strain on the muscle's isn't beneficial. They could've pulled a muscle at the _least_. And don't give me that 'but we're Saiyans' line again, your anatomy is similar enough to ours!"

Bardock rolled his eyes and sighed, placing a hand on Bulma's shoulder and turning her so that they were looking each other in the eyes.

"Bulma, I know." He tapped a finger to his head. "Not stupid, remember? They just needed to know they could do it. And neither of them would've just taken my word for it if we'd started off at a normal level." Bulma was clearly not in a forgiving mood, so he added, with a wry smile, "and Raditz can hardly question your scientific abilities now, can he?"

There was a pause, before Bulma smiled. "You do know how to talk to me. I'll give you a pass for that." The door outside slid open and they walked out into sunshine. "Though I don't why you insist on seeing me home-WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CAR!?"

"My sons." Bardock said grimly. "That's why."

Bulma dragged a hand across her face. "Ok, I believe you, but... _why?_ It looks like one of them just fell on it!"

"That was Kakarot. And as for why...I'm not sure. From where I was it looked like a really aggressive game of tag. But that's not a two-player game."

" _Saiyans,_ " Bulma said miserably. "I _liked_ that car."

"Wherever will you get another one." Bardock said dryly.

"Just take me home."

* * *

Bardock caught Kakarot's punch, tightening his grip and turning, throwing him toward Raditz. The older Saiyan dodged out of the way, rushing in towards Bardock, who sidestepped his first punch, taking a step back to avoid the follow up, and shot his hand to catch Raditz's heel as he attempted a kick. He didn't use much force, but pushed upwards, sending Raditz spinning into the air. He threw out his free hand, which flashed with energy. While not on outright blast, the circle of energy was more than enough to throw the off-balance Raditz back to the wall he had just come from-and where a bright blue light was growing.

"Ka-me-ha-me-"

Bardock growled and set his stance, noting Raditz had regained control of himself.

"Ha!" The room was too small to safely bat away the blast, so Bardock just caught it in his hand. He grit his teeth, the blast having much more force than it once had. After a moment, a pair of smaller, pink-colored beams arced around the initial Ka-me-ha-me-ha, Raditz joining his brother in pushing Bardock back. He was actually starting to give ground, body straining to hold back both attacks under the enhanced gravity.

He grinned fiercely as sweat dripped down his face. "Not bad boys!" He called over to them. "I think I'll actually have to push back!" He could hear Raditz start to curse when his own energy flared and push their combined beams back, moving the struggle from Bardock to about halfway between them in seconds. After a few seconds, the boys beam gave out and Bardock's blast began to push into theirs rapidly. He released it, letting it fly towards them and rushing over, bypassing the blast and snatching the two out of the way as the combined energy exploded against the wall. The three collapsed in a heap just outside the blast radius.

"Maybe pushed back a little too hard."

"No shit." Raditz's voice was muffled, given that he was face-down on the floor, but he was understood nonetheless.

"Ah, well. It all worked out." He glanced over at the the explosion site. "Aside from the giant hole in the wall, in any event." The gravity was rapidly lessening, as the machine was programmed to automatically shut down in the event of a hull breach.

He glanced down at his youngest. "You ok, Kakarot?"

There was a short pause before Kakarot popped up, grinning. "That was awesome!"

"Oh yes, I just love almost being killed by Bardock," Raditz said, sitting up and scowling at him. "It's becoming something of a pass time."

Bardock grinned and tiredly tousled his eldest's hair. "Never on purpose, Raditz. Never on purpose."

He pretended not to notice the way Raditz froze at the touch, and stood up, stretching and yawning. A red button was flashing on the machine and Bardock groaned while Kakarot did a poor job of smothering his laughter. The machine was also programmed to notify Bulma when something went wrong.

He walked over and hit the flashing button, which caused the computer screen to flash, and then show Bulma sitting at a desk. There was a pause as she stared at him, glancing past him, and sighing dramatically.

" _Why?_ "

"Something about needing to get stronger to save the world," Bardock said, shrugging. "Someone asked us to."

" _That line will only look for so long. And as for YOU two!"_ Her image turned to glare at Kakarot and Raditz. " _Stop blowing up my stuff!_ "

"That was _all_ him!" Raditz yelled back. Bulma raised an eyebrow at Bardock, who just gave her a tired smile.

" _Of course it was. It'll take me a day or two to get someone out there to fix. But since I have you, we think we figured out how to replicate the Saibaman seeds. We'll try next week._ "

"Alright, We'll be there. If it _does_ work, how fast can you make more?"

" _Pretty quick, it looks like. We think there's supposed to be some solution that makes the seeds sprout faster, but even without it, seeds should be easy to make. We'll just have to see._ "

"Alright. We'll keep busy until then."

" _Until then. And please don't break anything else?_ "

Bardock grinned and cut the transmission without answering.

"So...what now?" Kakarot asked, throwing his arms behind his head.

"Eh...take a break, I guess," Bardock said. "You can spar if you want, but we might as well go take a breather."

"Are you sure?" Kakarot asked, frowning.

"I'll take 1 break after 4 months," Raditz said dryly.

"How about we go check our power levels?" Bardock was thinking out loud as much as he was making an actual suggestion.

"What? Why?" Kakarot looked at him in confusion, though Raditz seemed to share Bardock's curiosity.

"It may not mean much to fighting, but it's a way to gauge progress. Why not?" Kakarot shrugged in agreement and they all strolled out the smoking hole in the side of their little complex. "To Bulma's then."

"Oh joy," Raditz said sourly.

* * *

"Come to blow up something else of mine?"

"No, but Raditz might if his power level's too low."

"Hey!"

"He tends to throw tantrums."

"Goddamnit, Bardock!"

Bulma rolled her eyes and, pointedly ignoring Raditz, kept her attention on Bardock. "So you want scouters?"

"If you could read for us, that'd be best."

"Fine, just go outside. I'll be out in a moment."

After a few minutes, Bulma emerged, rolling out a white board.

 **Goku: 1,350**

 **Raditz: 1,450**

 **Bardock: _**

"How come there isn't one for Dad?" Kakarot asked.

"Wow, he understood what that was." Raditz muttered, and Bardock casually swatted him on the head.

"I didn't give her a reading last time." Raditz glared at him, but said nothing.

"Ok," Bulma said, as she placed a machine in front of them. "One at a time, in front of the machine."

"What happened to a normal scouter?" Bardock asked, examining the machine.

"I am not having _anything_ explosive near me, let alone my face. I need this."

"Fair enough. Kakarot, you first."

"Alright!" Kakarot grinned as he hurried in front of the machine. He set his stance, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Bulma hurried back while Raditz and Bardock watched.

Kakarot's eyes flew open and power flared around him.

"Haaaaah!"

The ground around him shook slightly as energy flew into the sky. The machine beeped loudly, scanning, and let out a single loud chime when it was done.

Kakarot powered down, letting out a long sigh, and looking expectantly at the machine.

"Let's get the other two first." Bulma said, taking note of what the machine said. Kakarot frowned, but Bardock just gave him a light push to get him out of the way.

Raditz repeated the process, his display similar to his brothers, and again, Bulma leaned over and took note of the number, before looking expectantly at Bardock.

"Really?" Bardock said, feigning weariness.

"Yes."

"Come on, Dad!"

"Scared how your numbers will match up?"

Bardock raised an eyebrow at Raditz and said, dryly, "If you're that confident, I'll let you get out of the way of the next blast yourself." Raditz scowled, but stepped back so Bardock could get in front of the machine properly.

He set his stance, and all was quiet for a moment, before a faint glow behind to form around him. Both Kakarot and Raditz jerked in surprise as the ground began to shake.

"HaaAAAH!" There was a flash, and then the everything was shaking as energy surged throughout the small courtyard, and flowing up into the sky.

"Ummm…" Bulma was holding onto the doorframe as the ground shook underneath her. "I-is the sky supposed to do that?" The sky had darkened, apparently in response to Bardock's power-up. The machine again chimed done, and Bardock powered down, taking a deep breath as he shook himself slightly.

"Wow Dad!" Kakarot exclaimed, jumping over. "That was great!" Bardock shrugged, looking over at Bulma as she walked back over to the machine. Her mouth fell open slightly, as she glanced up at Bardock.

"How...exactly do these levels scale? I mean, what's considered a high level?"

Bardock considered the question, before looking over at Raditz. "I don't know what it is now."

"It's more based on ranges, not individual levels." They stared at him expectantly, and he turned slightly red before elaborating. "Under 1,000 is a basic soldier. Between 1,000-5,000 is a top-class warrior, 5,000-10,000 is an elite, and over 10,000 is just 'super elite.' That's when it's all about individual power levels." Bulma nodded thoughtfully and walked over to the whiteboard, turning it away from them as she wrote on it.

Kakarot drew breath to say something, until all three of them registered two more powers approaching. They looked up to see Piccolo and Gohan descending from the sky above them.

"Daddy!" Kakarot caught Gohan as he dropped down toward them, spinning him around as the two of them laughed.

Piccolo descended with notably less enthusiasm, meeting Bardock's gaze. "Enjoying shaking the planet?"

Bardock's smile was without humor. "Bringing up bad memories, Piccolo?" The demon growled, but said nothing.

Raditz glanced at the two of them curiously, but said nothing.

"Oh, hello Gohan!" Bulma said sweetly, poking her head out around the whiteboard. Gohan waved politely, perched on his father's shoulder. "Do you-ah, the _two_ of you want to get your powers read alongside these three?"

Piccolo shrugged, not against the idea, and Gohan hopped off Kakarot's shoulder.

They took their turns powering up for the machine, and Bulma disappeared behind the whiteboard again. After a moment, she turned it around, displaying their new power levels.

 **Gohan: _ 870 Soldier**

 **Piccolo: _ 1,720 Top-Class Soldier**

 **Goku: 1,350 3,547 Elite**

 **Raditz: 1,450 3,580 Elite**

 **Bardock: _ 25,590 Super Elite**

"Geez, Dad." Kakarot was staring in mild disappointment at the board. "That's just ridiculous." Raditz seemed to agree, although he didn't say anything.

Bardock decided to change the subject, turning to Piccolo and Gohan. "Happen to be nearby or something?"

"We were doing laps!" Gohan said helpfully, and Bardock smiled down at him and ruffled his hair, sobering up as he returned his gaze to Piccolo.

"Sure you don't want another gravity chamber? It's been working for us."

"No," Said Piccolo shortly. Bardock shrugged, turning back to the others.

"Suppose we'll get going then. I'll be back next week, Bulma."

"Just you?"

"Only need me to test them. No reason to interrupt anyone else."

"Alright then. I'll try and get somebody out there to fix the chamber tomorrow. I'm too busy to do it myself."

"Hey, Dad?" Bardock turned to Kakarot, motioning for him to continue. "Do you think I could take Gohan and go see Chi-Chi? It's been a couple of months…"

Bardock sighed, but nodded. "Just make not to tell her Gohan goes off with Piccolo on his own." He said, lowering his voice. Kakarot nodded unhappily. He didn't like lying to Chi-Chi-or at least fudging the truth-but Raditz had helped convince him it was necessary.

"I know…"

"Just be back tomorrow, alright."

"Alright! Come on Gohan!"

"Ok!"

"No, don't mind me, I don't have any plans." Piccolo grumbled.

* * *

"Raditz, can you help me with something?"

"Uh...what?" Raditz stopped in surprise, staring at Bardock. The man was laying on his bed, one hand under his head.

Bardock raised an eyebrow at him. "Your help."

"Ah...with what?" Raditz shook himself slightly, his hair still wet from the shower.

Bardock help up his free hand, and after a moment a small white orb appeared. It floated in front of Bardock, the man lazily moving it around.

"Do you know anything about the artificial moon the elites used to make?"

Raditz paused in the doorway, eyes on the small white energy ball.

"I know what it looks like," Bardock said, a growl of frustration in his voice. "But damn if I know how to do it." He clenched his fist, and the little ball disappeared with a flash.

Raditz entered the room and sat down in an empty chair. "I was never taught."

Bardock raised his head and looked over at him, curious..

"And I never managed it on my own either!" Bardock's face fell in disappointment, and Raditz frowned at him. "What's it matter? Sure, Vegeta knows how to make one, but he can't prevent us from transforming as well."

Bardock laid back down, staring at the ceiling. "It shouldn't matter. There's just...something." He fell silent for a moment, and Raditz shifted uncomfortably.

"Do you ever wonder...how things could have been different? What would have happened if things had changed?"

Raditz frowned, not used to seeing this side of his father.

"It's all nonsense to Kakarot. He doesn't remember anything, doesn't feel anything about it...he lost that part of himself."

"Of course I wonder. But there's no point in dwelling on it. Nothing could have changed what happened." There was another silent moment, and then the small white orb re-appeared, as Bardock held his hand to the ceiling.

"If I had made it back to Vegeta...do you think they would have listened to me? Believed me? Freeza might be a monster, but against a _whole race_ of monsters...then surely…"

Weakness. That was what Bardock was showing, and that's what was bothering Raditz. What had been bothering him in all his time on Earth. The regret and guilt that Bardock felt was a chink in the otherwise solid armor the Saiyan Warrior wore. It was what kept him from being the Saiyan Raditz vaguely remembered. He'd let Gine die. He'd thought he'd left Raditz to the same fate. Kakarot would never be a true Saiyan. And it was killing him. It _would_ kill him. Raditz could use it to destroy Bardock utterly.

"They wouldn't have," He said bluntly. The white light winked out, and Bardock propped himself up on one elbow, looking at Raditz curiously. "You know they wouldn't have. Even if you'd got to Vegeta and told everyone what had happened-even if you'd known Freeza was on his way-it wouldn't have mattered. You have to know that. All that would have happened was that you would have died along with the rest of them. And who knows what would have happened then."

"Who knows…" Bardock muttered, lying back down on the bed. Raditz could tell their conversation was over, and stood to leave.

Bardock called over to him as he reached the doorway. "Raditz?"

"What?" He asked, pausing.

"...Thanks."

Raditz opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it, just exiting the room. He didn't think he could speak to Bardock- _think_ of Bardock the way Kakarot did, but he'd be lying to himself if he tried to pretend the man didn't care.

If anything, that was the problem.

* * *

"Hey so...I've been wanting to ask you...a question…"

"...what?"

"What was...Dad like...you know...back on our home planet?"

"Can't this... _wait?_ "

"What...for?"

"Oh I don't know...maybe for when we aren't _upside down!?_ "

"Oh...ok…" Raditz let out an irritable sigh, not able to do much else. Bardock had left over an hour ago, to check in on Bulma's Saibamen, and had left the two of them to exercise in 15 G's

They were silent for a while, no sound but the low hum of the gravity machine and their own heavy breathing. It was a strange situation he was in. Raditz was supposed to have landed on a planet with roughly one sentient being, and his only purpose was to take that being away with him. That had hardly worked out. He'd wondered, ever since Planet Vegeta had been lost, what his father's survival might have meant, but it had always been one of those far-away wonders, something so improbable that it was unreal. Yet, here he was, in his 6th month of intensive training with his father and younger brother, and with quite a bit to show for it, too. He'd always wondered what having his father as a real teacher might've meant-if he could have been as strong as the others. Apparently, the answer was 'yes'.

Raditz didn't know how to respond to his sudden family. Kakarot was as far from what he had expected as was possible, and Bardock was supposed to be dead. Gohan hadn't seemed too terrible-though he doubted either of the brat's parents had anything to do with that. Kakarot wasn't without his Saiyan drive or penchant for fo fighting, but his memory loss and subsequent raising by humans had ruined him. As for his sister-in-law, - _do I really have to call her that?_ \- she had made no secrets of what she intended to do to him if harm befell Kakarot or Gohan because of him. She couldn't do anything, of course, but he believed she would try. When he had asked about Bardock, she had just give him a cold look and dared him to try. It had been genuinely chilling, and if he was honest with himself, had left him slightly jealous of his brother. Chi-Chi had steel in her, and wasn't without means of self-defense, at least when it came to other humans.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud beep, and they could feel the gravity lessening. They stood and stared at the screen and the gravity ticked down.

 _5 G_

The door slid open abruptly, and they turned to look.

"Uh...Dad?" Kakarot peered through the doorway, when something small, green, and definitely _not_ Bardock jumped through, lunging at Kakarot. Raditz grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back out of the way, kicking the Saibaman back.

"Kakarot!" He barked. His younger brother stumbled back, regaining his balance and bringing his hands back.

"Sorry! Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" The blue energy wave caught the Saibaman mid-jump, destroying it.

"Ok…" Raditz said, panting lightly. "That happened-" Two more Saibamen launched themselves through the door, forcing the two Saiyans back and on the defensive. They ducked and blocked various punches and kicks, off-balance enough to be unable to effectively respond.

"Are you...having...fun...Bardock!?" Raditz yelled. The man was visible in the doorway now, grinning as he held an empty capsule.

"As a matter of fact, I am. Come on you two! Put some real effort into it!"

Raditz growled in annoyance, but after side-stepping another swipe, he caught the Saibamen's arm and threw it to the ground, before kicking it to the wall. He blasted it to dust when it tried to attack him again, at the same time as Kakarot destroyed his opponent.

"Good work. Now just wait until you get to do that at a higher gravity." Raditz glared at Bardock as strolled into the room.

"How will that be harder? They'll be less adjusted to it than we will." He said, straightening up. Kakarot was still doubled over, the surprise of the attack having taken as much of a toll on him as the actual fight had.

"That was...mean...Dad…"

"According to Bulma," Bardock said, ignoring Kakarot, "We can cheat, at least a little bit. She can adjust the formula to make them ready for higher gravity the moment they sprout."

Raditz sagged slightly, willing to believe the scientist was capable of anything by this point.

"Only up to about 15, maybe 20 G's. But still," He gave them a fierce grin, "they'll make training _fun_." His face fell slighty after that. "But first, I have to go chaperone the humans. They're only just as strong as the weakest ones she can produce, and they still have a tendency to try and kill people." He tossed Raditz the remote and turned to leave. "I'd get in shape, you two," he said over his shoulder. "Because I'll be coming back with more!"

They watched the door slid shut behind him.

"It is going to be a _long_ 8 months," Raditz said, an Kakarot nodded in agreement.

* * *

It was a light kind of warmth that enveloped him. He couldn't see anything, not really, but he felt comfortable, and safe.

 _Gohan..._

It was a woman, but not one he knew. It seemed to echo all over the small space he found himself in.

 _Gohan, can you be brave for me?_

 _Um..._

He wasn't speaking, not really, but it didn't seem to matter.

 _I want to show you something. Can you be brave for me?_

 _I...I can._

 _I know you can._ He still couldn't see anything, but he could feel that the woman was smiling. _I'll be with you the whole time, I promise. Ok?_

 _O...ok!_

And then there was a flash of light, and the world seemed to come into focus.

All was quiet. He felt like he was looking at a picture, a still image, frozen in time. His perspective was that of a birds, looking down on everything, but he wasn't flying, because he could see himself, too. He was wearing armor like Dad's or Grandpa's, and he was standing with Piccolo, apparently out of the way of everything.

He started getting uneasy when he saw the land around them. Islands covered in blue grass were pocketed with craters, smoke unmoving, forming large columns from small fires burning around what was obviously a battlefield.

The first real spike of fear was when he spotted the first body. He tried to take a step back, to distance himself from what he was seeing, but he felt warm hands on his shoulders.

 _You need to watch until the end, Gohan. It's scary, but I'm right here._

He swallowed, but nodded, or at least tried to. The woman understood though, but this time, when he continued looking, the comforting hands remained on his shoulders. There was no saying whether the people he saw were dead or just unconscious, and he didn't want to examine close enough to try and find out.

Now he could see Dad, upright, apparently fighting, alongside someone he didn't know. Then there was Uncle Raditz, who was hurt, but alive and then...and then-

 _No...No!_

 _Gohan, I know, but you need to watch until the end!_

Time started to crawl forward, but he didn't want to watch anymore. There was more to see, but all he could focus on was the blood dripping as Grandpa slowly crumbled to the ground.

 _No! I don't want to see this!I don't want to see thi-_

He sat up in bed with a scream, covered in sweat.

There was a moment, where he sat shaking in bed, and then the light outside his room flickered to life and his door was thrown open.

"Gohan!?" Mom ran in, dropping down beside him and wrapping her arms around him. He just buried his face in her shoulder, wanting nothing more than to cry. After a few minutes of sobbing and his mother murmuring reassurances, he pulled back, sniffling.

"Gohan, sweetie, what is it? Did you have a nightmare?"

"I saw...G-g-grandpa...h-he was..."

"Oh, Gohan," she said, pulling him back into a hug. "Grandpa's just fine. Do you want me to call him over?"

After a moment, he nodded.

"Alright," Mom said, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll be right back."

Chi-Chi didn't have to ask which Grandpa Gohan meant. Dad would never be associated with anything like that in Gohan's mind, but Bardock was warrior to the core.  
It couldn't help bother her, though. Dreams and nightmares were common enough, especially for a child going through what Gohan was, but he'd never had dreams like that.

After several rings, the phone picked up, and she could hear Bardock on the other end.

"...Hello?" Bardock had evidently been woken up by the phone.

"Bardock?"

"...what?" This was followed by a loud yawn, and she rolled her eyes.

"Do you think you could fly over here? I know it's late, but-"

"Fly over? Isn't it Gohan's day there?" She _did_ like Bardock.

"He had a really bad dream," After a moment, she added, "About you. Bardock, I've never seen him have a nightmare like that. Please, can you come over?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be over as soon as I can."

"Thank you." The phone clicked off, and she placed it back on the wall. She might wish Gohan had role models aside from Bardock, but she knew the man cared as much as any of them about Gohan, and that he didn't put Gohan through training lightly. She hated every second he was gone, but she believed Bardock when he said there were monsters out there they needed to be able to fight off. He would know, after all.

She heard Bardock land outside, and the door opened seconds later. The man actually wasn't in his Saiyan armor for once, evidently not bothering to take the time to put it on, and had instead pulled on a tight-fitting T-shirt instead. Chi-Chi had insisted they all own normal clothes, even if they never used them.

"Gohan, Grandpa's here!" She flashed Bardock a brief smile as Gohan emerged from his room and hurried over. Bardock dropped to one knee and pulled Gohan into a hug.

"Hey bud," he muttered, sleep apparently not having quite left him. "Had a bad dream?"

"It didn't feel like a dream," Gohan muttered. "There was this nice lady talking to me, and then I was somewhere didn't know, and there was fighting and you were- I was so scared!" He buried his face in Bardock's shoulder, much like he'd done with Chi-Chi earlier.

"Easy, it's alright," Bardock said. "I'm right here. I'm fine."

"It wasn't here that you were hurt," Gohan managed.

Something in the way he said that seemed to bother Bardock, who held Gohan out to arm's length, frowning.

"What do you mean by that, Gohan? Where was this?" Chi-Chi stepped forward, rather alarmed that Bardock would ask for details about Gohan's nightmare, but he just held up a hand to forestall her.

"I don't know…"

"Can you try? You don't have to talk about the scary parts. Just...describe it."

"Th...there were craters and smoke everywhere...the oceans and the sky were green...and the grass was blue… Dad was fighting with some weird guy with spiky hair, and you were...you were…" Bardock held up a hand to stop him. It wasn't obvious, but Chi-Chi could tell that this was bothering Bardock quite a bit.

"Back up. When you said your Dad was fighting with that guy, were they fighting with each other, or together?"

"I'm not sure...I think it was together."

"Can you tell me what he looked like?"

"Um…He had black, spiky hair...and he was kind of short...oh, and he was wearing the same kind of armor you guys were," Bardock pulled Gohan back into a tight hug, ending the conversation, and while it prevented Gohan from noticing anything, Chi-Chi could see Bardock's reaction plainly.

He was white as a sheet.

* * *

Once Gohan was asleep again, Chi-Chi hurried back into the living room, a worm of fear working in her. She'd never seen Bardock afraid before, but this had definitely shaken him, and there was only one scenario where that made sense.

And that was that he didn't think Gohan hadn't been dreaming.

Bardock was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of water, and she slowed to a stop.

"Bardock?" He didn't answer, staring down at a cup in his hands for several seconds, before abruptly standing up, almost knocking the cup over.

"Not here." He said bluntly.

"Excuse me?"

"Not here. I'm not explaining twice." He gave her a hard look. "Get something warm."

* * *

Bardock was careful not to land on the Lookout too fast, so Chi-Chi could get her feet under her. Once she had her bearings, however, he shrugged off her arms and began walking toward Kami, who had already emerged.

"Bardock? You're…" He paused, frowning, " _very_ disturbed." He looked past him to Chi-Chi, who was hurrying to catch up. "Gohan _is_ all right?"

"Yeah," Bardock grunted. "But apparently, I won't be"

"I don't understand!" Chi-Chi said, catching up with him. "Why are you taking this so seriously?"

Bardock turned to her, and after a long moment, said, "Because I'm already supposed to be dead. And we were never supposed to have met."

* * *

"I don't understand how Gohan could have inherited any part of your abilities," Kami said, pacing. They'd moved inside the Lookout, out of the cold winds. "They weren't hereditary, you were given them. And Goku's shown no signs of prophecy." He stopped and looked at Bardock. "And who was the woman he was hearing?"

"I don't know," Bardock said grimly. "But I saw the same location in one of my visions. And his descriptions matches how Raditz described Vegeta. Gohan wasn't anywhere nearby for that conversation."

"I agree that the level of coincidence is too high," Kami said. "But that explains nothing."

"It...seems like a warning," Chi-Chi said, speaking up for the first time.

Bardock glanced at her in mild surprise, and Kami agreed. "It does. Who would- _could_ -do that, though?"

They were quiet again, thinking.

"There...surely exists, in otherworld, beings who could do such a thing." Kami said slowly. Or enable others too."

Bardock looked up at him. "You have an idea?"

"If such a being was found...it could enable someone to contact someone they were close to." He spread his arms. "It would even make sense that it would be Gohan who would receive the vision. You've lost your ability to see them, Goku would be unreliable in his interpretation, and Raditz's heart is too closed off."

"It's too late for me to keep up with you," Bardock said irritably. "Spit it out."

"Gine isn't in hell."

Bardock's mouth fell open slightly.

"And I'm not speculating. I know she isn't. She would be free to roam Otherworld, and could have encountered a being of time, who gave her a vision to give to Gohan. Or, more likely," Kami continued, the idea just now occurring to him, "giving him what is left of the power you received. You didn't lose them, after all. They were barred from you as punishment."

Bardock stood up, angry. "So what? Gohan has to suffer through visions of destruction now? Has to deal with those damn headaches? Gine wouldn't have made him suffer just to make my life better!"

Kami held his hands in a placating gesture. "We don't know anything for certain, or how his visions will work. But as for headaches-no, he won't have those. Not without doing what you did, and consciously changing the timeline. Those didn't come from future sight-they're punishment for drastically altering the timeline, and I doubt they'll go away."

Bardock glared at him, before looking down at the time, attempting to control his anger. "How...how do you _know_ Gine isn't in Hell?"

"Aside from some educated guesswork based off what I've heard about her, the title of Guardian does afford certain benefits. My interactions with Otherworld are limited, but I'm more than capable of asking King Yemma a question."

Chi-Chi stood up, sensing it was time to leave, and walked toward the door, hoping the Saiyan would follow her. He didn't.

"You didn't think to tell me that?" There was a very dangerous edge to Bardock's voice as he spoke.

"I did think of it. But what have you done for her? Said about her? What right did you have to information the living have no business knowing?"

Bardock's chair fell to the floor, as he left the room without another word. Even without the ability to sense energy, Chi-Chi could feel the anger and pain rolling off Bardock in waves. She looked over the Kami, who let out a sad sigh and picked the chair up off the floor.

"Chi-Chi...Bardock has no intention of changing Gohan's vision. If someone else had been dying in it, he would, but he will not act to save himself from a fate he believes he deserves." He looked up at her. "And if he dies soon...he will not end up with his wife." Chi-Chi's heart fell. Bardock was a good father, and grandfather, but she understood that just because he could love his family didn't erase what he had done in the past. "Bardock is a Saiyan before everything. He feels nothing but guilt about his wife. If he truly cared-then he could have done something. But he hasn't." The Guardian shook his head sadly. Chi-Chi hadn't considered that. Bardock could've wished Gine back by now. But he hadn't. "Mr. Popo will give you a ride back to your home."

"Huh? What about-"

"Bardock has already left."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Saiyan Race**

"I just want to help…"

"I know, and you'll always be the best sparring partner for me. It's just…"

"I'm not strong enough."

"Odds are, none of us are. But we shouldn't put anyone in unnecessary danger."

"If my powers worked-"

"But they don't." He wasn't trying to be mean. But Bardock hadn't even known what Chiaotzu had been trying to do until it had been explained to him, and it hadn't had any more effect on him afterward.

"I just...alright. I don't want to get in the way. But you have to promise not to die!"

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

" _Vegeta, we'll touch down in a few days."_

"Yes, thank you Nappa."

" _I don't suppose you'll tell me what the big secret is? I know there is one, Raditz hasn't contacted us-"_

"Leave the thinking to your betters, Nappa. You'll learn when we get there. Now leave me alone."

" _I-yes, Vegeta."_

 _Click_

Vegeta settled back into his pod, double-checking to make sure both mics were off, before calling up the files he'd been perusing.

 _Bardock, Rogue Saiyan, Survivor of Planet Vegeta, wanted for multiple accounts of assault and murder of soldiers of the Great Empire of Lord Frieza, and multiple accounts of destruction of Empire Property._

Vegeta didn't understand why Frieza had the writers bother with the PR spin. They might as well have written "kill this bastard, we don't like him."

 _Due to the dangerous nature of this fugitive, information is being made available only to those holding a rank above 'Elite.' Sharing any details of these reports with lower-ranking soldiers will result in a stern reprimand and possible demotion._

Nappa was very specifically under his command, not Frieza's, so he was technically free to pass on the information, though it was obvious Frieza wouldn't see it the same way. He didn't really care, but Nappa would be bound to blab, and Vegeta didn't need every would-be bounty hunter in the galaxy as competition.

No, Bardock was _his_ to deal with.

He scrolled down the report, not needing any physical description or tips on locating him. There was one part of the report that troubled him, one reason why it mattered so much that he _,_ Vegeta, be the one to kill Bardock.

 _Last known power level: 10,000_

That was the last power level Dodoria's squad had transmitted before being eliminated, and since Dodoria had been certain he'd hit Bardock hard enough to kill him, it was fair to assume he was only stronger, given Saiyan recovery. And he had had _years_ since then. Even if he had been lacking for any real challenge in the years he had been gone, he'd still held the title of Strongest Saiyan for a good while.

It couldn't be allowed.

He was Prince Vegeta. He'd surpassed his father, the _king_ long ago, and he _had_ to know that he was the greatest Saiyan warrior. That it coincided with Frieza's wishes meant nothing. He didn't care whether Bardock lived or died. If he was weak enough, Vegeta might well let him go and report his death to Frieza anyway. But he didn't expect that. No, his instincts were telling him Bardock was a very real challenge. To his power, and possibly, should he be so inclined, his throne. He doubted it-Bardock had been ambitious for his own reasons, showing no inclination to ruling, and the title meant little enough now as it was-yet, it stuck with him. A challenge to his rule. There were 5 surviving Saiyans, and 3 of them were already presumably allied against him. It'd be child's play for Bardock, if he defeated Vegeta, to cow Nappa into obeying.

It was an almost childlike, irrational fear.

But he felt it nonetheless.

* * *

Kami closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he felt Bardock's presence touchdown on the Lookout. This wasn't the time. The Saiyans were under an hour away, by his senses, and _now_ was when he chose to come up to have it out?

He didn't walk out to meet Bardock, as he usually did, deciding that if this was so important to the Saiyan, he could walk all the inside. It was a surprisingly petty move for the Guardian, but his time spent with Bardock had greatly decreased the patience he had for the stubborn man.

To his mild surprise, the door wasn't slammed open, Bardock evidently keeping his anger under control. The Saiyan was in his full armor, crossing the room with slow, measured strides.

"Where are your sons?"

"They don't need to be here for this." He said, his voice level-before he kicked the table Kami was sitting at aside and lashed out, grabbing the Guardian by his robe and throwing him up against the wall. The impact hurt-a lot more than Bardock probably intended-and Kami was left gasping for breath as Bardock continued speaking.

"Had a little talk with Chi-Chi last night. You know what she asked me?"

"Bardock, I-What are you-"

"She asked me why I never wished back Gine. Why I've left her dead. Said _you_ were sad because I'd never tried. And yet I _distinctly_ remember being told that I couldn't do that exact thing. Care to give me an explanation?"

"You've-you've never asked-or attempted-"

" _I asked you!_ I asked you if any of the Saiyans could be brought back! You said no!"

"The race as a whole couldn't, but-"

" _But!?"_ Bardock drew him back and smashed him into the wall, causing cracks to split open all along it as Kami felt blood starting to trickle down his front. "YOU _NEVER_ SAID THAT!"

"The…" Kami gasped for breath. The gash was definitely on his head, but he could still think clearly. "The one year rule...applies to _mass_ resurrections...individuals still...still could be resurrected…"

He was dimly aware of being moved, and the roar of an explosion. As his senses slowly returned to normal, he could feel fresh air flowing through the room. Bardock had blasted a hole in the side of the Lookout, though he'd retained the sense to move Kami out of the way.

There was a long pause as Kami regained his senses, the only sound in the room being Bardock's heavy breathing.

"Is that really how low your opinion of me is?" It took Kami a moment to process the question. "Is that the person you think I am? Just because I couldn't bring back all of the Saiyans I wouldn't want to bring the woman I loved? You _assumed_ I'd only want an all or nothing option?"

Kami stared at him, at a loss.

"Well!?" Bardock took a step closer, anger still etched in every line of his face. "Is that what you thought of me!? Have I ever been anything but a cold-blooded killer to you?"

Kami stared at the man he'd come to know over the past several years. Remembered the indifference he'd had for the fate of the Earth. The anger he'd shown in their disputes over Kakarot's. The fear he'd felt when Kakarot had been injured. The compassion he'd shown his son in their training.

The love he had for his family.

"It would take two years," He said, his voice wheezing. "In order to make sure she'd be revived on Earth, not in the space where Planet Vegeta once was."

"Then get moving."

* * *

"There you two are," Piccolo grunted as Goku and Raditz descended to join the rest of them. "What's Bardock doing on the Lookout?"

Raditz shrugged as Goku knelt to scoop up Gohan. "Said he had business with Kami. Told us to go ahead."

"He _will_ be catching up though, right?" Yamcha asked.

"Don't act too scared or anything," Krillin responded, annoyed. "What's the point of training for this if we just let him do all the work?"

"Krillin's right. We got stronger for a reason," Tien chimed in.

"You're going to need to leave Vegeta to us," Raditz said. "He'll be the short one with the black hair. Nappa's going to be your opponent. They'll probably have Saibamen, but I should hope you can deal with those by now."

Piccolo snorted in contempt and looked up to the sky. "A few minutes," He grunted.

"I'm impressed Bulma managed to evacuate," Krillin said, looking around. "Them landing right in the middle of the city? Not good."

"When she screams, people listen," Yamcha said sourly. "She used all the footage she could piece together from the tournament and some she got from Bardock and told them all it was going to get worse."

"That wasn't Dad!" Goku said, frowning. "That was me!"

"Oh, uh, sorry?"

"Giving him all the credit…" He muttered, walking a short distance away while Gohan consoled him.

Raditz eyed the Earthlings. Nobody was powered up to their full yet, and while Bardock was confident they could handle Saibamen, it was likely they were still weaker than Nappa. They were also all wearing matching armor, the newer models Bulma had made, without the shoulder pieces. They all had a matching insignia resembling Earth on the chest plates.

What bothered Raditz was Piccolo. Besides 'stronger than the humans', he didn't have much to go off on the being's actual power level. Bardock had guessed he was probably around Nappa's strength, which was an impressive feat, though if true, left him well below the rest of the Saiyans. It was a shame, really, that Raditz would have to focus on Vegeta from the very beginning. He'd _love_ to see the look on Nappa's face after slapping him around a bit. If he got the chance, he would absolutely get in a few blows.

It was up in the air whether he and Kakarot would be able to defeat Vegeta on their own. They were virtually even, and Bardock had placed them somewhere around 10K in power, though he'd refused to get them officially measured again.

"Here they come!" Tien called, and everyone turned and looked up, the Earthlings backing up at the attack pods rocketed down toward them, crashing in the middle of the road. Raditz and Piccolo watched impassively as the door of the pods opened. Kakarot came back to attention, Gohan standing slightly behind him, as the Earthlings tensed up.

"They weren't kidding," Krillin said, shaking slightly. "Can you guys _feel_ that?"

"Shut up!" Yamcha hissed back.

The smoke cleared and the two Saiyans looked at the group in front of them in surprise. Nappa, large as ever, towering over nearly everyone else, Vegeta slightly behind him, looking like a child in comparison.

"Well, well...I wouldn't have thought the instruments of this planet could read our approach, let alone so effectively." Vegeta said, scanning the group. "I don't see your scouter Raditz. How did you know where we were going to land?"

"I don't need one anymore. And you're rather hard to miss." Raditz smirked. "Unless Nappa stands in front of you, anyway."

"Hey!" The large man took a step forward. "Watch your mouth, traitor!"

"Take about 3 more steps Nappa," Raditz said. "Prove my point."

"You!...I'll show you your place-"

"Nappa! Calm yourself!" Vegeta barked. Nappa reluctantly took a step back.

"As pathetically easy to bait as ever," Raditz sneered.

"You'd better remember what happens to people who make me mad," Nappa warned. Raditz seemed unconcerned.

"So what are you going to do Raditz? You can't hope this little army can accomplish much."

Kakarot stepped up beside him, examining Vegeta curiously.

"Ah. You must be Kakarot." Kakarot frowned and crossed his arms, mimicking his brother.

"Yeah."

Vegeta titled his head curiously.

"Has anyone ever told you how much you resemble your father? I imagine it makes poor Raditz sick to his stomach." Raditz held up a hand to silence Kakarot as Vegeta spoke. "He never was a fan of his father." Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Right?"

Everyone was watching Raditz, Nappa's face dawning with comprehension.

"Where is he?" Vegeta was dropping his pretense, taking a threatening step toward them.

"That eager to please Frieza?" Raditz asked him.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand why I'm looking for a challenge, weakling. Where is he?"

Raditz considered him for a moment.

"Do you know why I'm not wearing a scouter, Vegeta?"

The Saiyan Prince frowned at him. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"I'm not wearing a scouter because these Earthlings," he indicated the humans "know how to sense energy. There's always been those on this planet with that ability. And even the weakest, smallest runt here can do it better than you can."

"You might be annoying me, but you aren't accomplishing much else. If it's possible to sense energy I'll learn how to do it in my own time. You're correct enough that it'd be useful. But just because you lot can do it doesn't change your fate. Now I'll give you one last chance. Take me to Bardock, or bring him here, and I'll tell Frieza that you've been acting to bring him down this whole time. He won't care. You get to live, keep on with us. We'll even bring Kakarot along. It's that, or die. There is no in-between."

Raditz grinned.

"Bardock'll be here in his own time, you don't have to worry about that. The only real question is whether we'll even need him."

His punch send Vegeta crashing through the skyscraper behind him, with enough force to bring down the whole building. The rubble burst clear as an incensed Vegeta burst forth, only to be hit by a follow kick by Raditz, sending him sailing into the sky. Vegeta stopped himself above a building a couple blocks away. Nappa punched at Raditz with a roar of rage, but his fist was caught by Kakarot with no apparent effort.

"Sorry!" Kakarot said cheerfully, "But you're going to have to play with the others." He kicked Nappa backwards, into another building. The kick carried far less force than Raditz's had, but it was still enough to leave a smoking hole in the side of the building. Nappa was far from dead, but Kakarot was confident the others could handle him, turning to fly off and join his brother.

* * *

Vegeta wiped a trickle of blood from his chin, fury pulsating throughout his whole being.

"Was that weak enough for you?" Raditz taunted, landing on top of the roof opposite him.

Vegeta stood up straight, getting his rage under control. The last thing he needed was to give Raditz another opening. "I see Bardock is a capable trainer. I didn't think anyone could make a real fighter out of you."

"You've known the whole time," Raditz growled. "Is that why you let me come along with you?"

Vegeta cocked his head to one side, studying the lower-class Saiyan. "You know, Raditz, whatever we say about you, you are smarter than Nappa. Yes, if Bardock ever struck deeper into the Empire, the plan was to use you to bait a trap for him. And I wanted to be there for it."

Kakarot landed on the roof beside Raditz, but said nothing, watching the two with interest.

"Use me as bait?"

"When Bardock began raiding information outposts, Frieza had your name struck from the records. He wanted to control how Bardock would learn of you, so that we could control how he would contact you. We were sure that he would." Raditz's mouth had fallen open slightly, surprise on his face. Unfortunately, Kakarot was still on guard, so he couldn't be sure of a clear opening. "However, the information division couldn't put together a clear pattern for the outposts Bardock attacked. None of us knew about Kakarot, you see. He seemed to be moving at random, and he quickly became very efficient at destroying those little outposts. They could never be sure what information he had accessed. You've been referred to at 'the third Saiyan' in reports for over a decade now."

Kakarot glanced at Raditz in apparent concern, and it was all the time Vegeta needed. He struck the younger Saiyan, knocking him from the roof and through a nearby building. Raditz's response was slow, and he caught the low-class Saiyans arm, turning and throwing him over his shoulder, shattering part of the roof of the building they were on. Raditz, apparently unphased, fired a wide, bright blast that forced Vegeta to release him and knock away another couple of Ki blasts.

"Ka-me-ha-me-" Vegeta turned in time to see Kakarot, already recovered, in the air, charging up a blast. "-Ha!" Vegeta caught the blast with both hands, barely giving ground.

"This is noth-" He heard, rather than saw, Raditz charging up his own blast behind him. "Oh you sons of-!" The building exploded under the combined explosions of both attacks. Vegeta had barely taken to the air in time, and they didn't seem interested in giving him time to catch his breath. He leaned back to dodge Kakarot's first punch before Raditz piled on, and he was stuck dodging and parrying a flurry of punches and kicks.

" _This-"_

He threw a punch, which Kakarot barely dodged before returning to his attack.

" _Is-"_

Raditz had begun mixing in Ki blasts, Vegeta forced to dodge or deflect them, as they flew wide or curved away from Kakarot.

" _RIDICULOUS!"_

Power exploded from him in every direction, throwing both of them back. They recovered quickly, Raditz firing twin Ki blasts from his hands. Vegeta knocked them both away, only to have Kakarot fly directly upward, smashing into him and carry him upwards. His armor absorbed any potential harm, and he fired Ki blasts down, brushing past Kakarot but making him let go in surprise. He tumbled downwards a ways before regaining balance, but Vegeta was prevented from capitalizing by Raditz bringing both hands down in a hammering blow, knocking him even further down than Kakarot.

The two brothers regrouped, leaving a gap between the three of them. While he was wasn't taking any serious damage, they were taking even less. And there was a limit to his stamina. He'd win this fight-eventually. But he'd be in no shape to fight Bardock afterward, and if they all really could sense energy, he'd have no way to hide and recover. He needed a new plan.

* * *

Nappa let out a roar of rage the little earthling jumped out of the way of his attack again. Everything was going wrong. He surrounded by smoking Saibamen corpses, Vegeta was apparently held up by Raditz and his _stupid_ little brother-which meant they were both stronger than _him_ -and to make this day as terrible as possible, he hadn't killed a single earthling. The entire city seemed to be empty.

"I thought he'd be faster," The spiky-haired one said, managing to sound cocky even though he was trying to catch his breath.

"Really? Is this really the time?" The short one asked exasperatedly.

"Focus!" The tall one said.

He hadn't taken any real damage from the fight so far, but he had only been fighting the 3 of them, the green alien and the human child watching from the sidelines.

"Like it'll do you any good," Nappa growled. He needed a new plan-well, he needed a _plan_ at all, apparently. The simplest plan-his favorite-would be to just have Vegeta make an artificial moon. But that couldn't be done right now.

Nappa had fought 'heroes' before. Early on, in the missions he had gone on with Vegeta after the loss of their planet, they'd land out of sight and work their way up, starting with smaller villages so they could go unnoticed for as long as possible. In their later missions, they'd dropped right into the middle of cities, like they'd done here. There, they'd face 'champions.' 'Heroes' or 'defenders', whatever they called themselves. Fools who cared about the planet and its citizens. Those who would so often die for common peasants.

These fools might've evacuated the city.

But they weren't alone.

* * *

Death.

That was what he had seen.

 _A smoke-filled, destroyed city. Rubble and ash and blood. They'd been so careful, prepared, and they shouldn't have died. He couldn't tell what bodies were which. Dad? Piccolo? Uncle Raditz? Surely not Grandpa, if he was as strong as everyone said he was. And he wouldn't leave everyone to die…_

 _No. They were all alive. They just weren't here. But the others were. The humans. Dad's friends._

 _He kept walking. He'd be brave this time, braver than he had been before. He could see explosions in the sky to his right, as if frozen in time. If he focused, they began to move, ever so slowly. But he wouldn't learn anything from them. Finally, he came to a clearing, and there was Piccolo. He'd been fighting here, but now? His arms were outstretched, and the clearing was lit by a strange light. There was a large, balding man on the other side. And a small, huddled form behind Piccolo._

He'd been woken up soon after that, and he'd understood. The vision that had been given to him told him on very important thing: He was the weak link. Now that he was here, it was obvious how it was supposed to unfold. Grandpa hadn't gotten here yet, Dad and Uncle Raditz were off fighting Vegeta. Just as he'd locked up, frozen when the Saiyans had first landed, he would've stayed still as Nappa rained blow after blow towards him, finally hitting everyone else as they fought to protect him. He'd seen where that ended, and as he watched Nappa's eye flick to him, he knew he wouldn't let it happen again.

"Ha!" Gohan jumped forward, ramming a fist into Nappa's stomach. The full-blooded Saiyan didn't have his guard up, his face a mask of pain and pure shock. Gohan flew up and began to throw a flurry of punches and kicks at the Saiyan. Nappa regained his balance quickly, but was already on the defensive. The large Saiyan blocked a particularly hard kick from Gohan, who used the momentum to send himself flying backwards, spinning in the air and bringing his hands up above his head.

"MASEN-KO!"

The yellow burst of energy sent Nappa flying back as it engulfed him. With a roar, he shattered the blast and landed on his feet only a yard away. He wasn't much the worse for wear physically, but the battle had changed.

"What was that?" Piccolo had moved up beside him, but he didn't sound angry. He was almost smiling, even.

Gohan grinned, trying not to sound too tired. "I'm here to fight too!"

Piccolo patted him on the shoulder-a rare sign of affection-and nodded. "You are. But why not step back for a moment?"

Gohan knew Piccolo well enough to know that it wasn't really a question, and he dropped to the ground, frowning.

"Why?"

"I think it's time I had some fun," He said, cracking his knuckles as he walked forward. "Just me and our big friend here."

Nappa straightened up and laughed. "Ha! Well isn't the green man so tough. It took all your friends power just to dodge me, and the little one couldn't do any damage even with a surprise attack." His confidence seemed to rapidly return to him. "What makes you think you can do any better?"

"First off, they aren't my friends," Piccolo said, setting his stance. "Second, the boy did more damage to you than all three of them combined, even if you can tough it out." Power began to course along Piccolo's body. "And lastly…" Nappa's scouter began to beep loudly. "I _know_ I can do better."

Piccolo's kick would've broken Nappa's ribs if he hadn't been wearing his armor. The big Saiyan stumbled backwards, looking up in time to see Piccolo's downward kick.

"What's the matter?" Piccolo asked, his kick forcing Nappa's head down as a gash opened along his cheek.

"Didn't you-" He brought his left arm forward, blasting Nappa with Ki.

"See-" He knee'd Nappa in his now exposed stomach.

"This one coming!?" He brought his hands together and smashed them down on Nappa's head.

There was a moment of stunned silence as Nappa and Piccolo seemed frozen.

Then Nappa blew Piccolo's left arm off.

"Yeah!" His right hook sending Piccolo crashing into the ground with enough force that he bounced.

"I did!" He grabbed Piccolo's shirt in mid air and tossed him up higher, kicking him in the chest and sending him flying backwards with a sickening crunch.

"And I'm not impressed!" He sent an energy blast following after Piccolo, which exploded directly above him. Nappa frowned, and then his expression changed to one of disbelief as Piccolo slowly regained his feet. His breathing was horribly raspy, as he stood up straight, his chest seemingly caved in as blood flowed freely down his face. There was a pause, and then Piccolo let out a roar. A fresh arm popped out of his shoulder, and his chest filled out properly. There was another pause as he took a few deep breaths and shook of the blood off his arm, before he turned to face Nappa fully.

"Well, aren't you a monster?" The big Saiyan, far from being angry, seemed pleased.

"At least my ribs don't stay broken," Piccolo said, powering up again.

"Please, you got two at the most. Now come on, let's have some fun!"

They rushed toward each other, trading blows and energy blasts in turn, Gohan and the Earthlings merely spectators now.

"You know," Tien said. "They're both absolute monsters, but I feel like we can keep up better than we could at the tournament."

"Huh," Yamcha grunted.

"Strange world. Or...galaxy. Universe? How far away do you think the Saiyans lived?" Krillin asked.

"Grandpa doesn't know the exact light years, but he said it was only about 6 months in a pod."

Tien was the only one who seemed particularly frustrated. "Aren't you bothered by how huge the gap is here? We can _see_ what they're doing, but we couldn't compete at their level!"

"Goku became as strong as Master Roshi-who was the strongest human being on Earth at the time-in 3 years. I'm used to this." Krillin said.

"Yeah," Yamcha sighed. "If these guys weren't the ambassadors for an alien army that wants to kill us all, I might just give up on fighting."

They ducked a stray energy blast, turning to look as the building it hit was vaporized.

"You are all entirely too casual about this," Tien said.

* * *

"Man, can you feel that?" Kakarot asked, pausing in his assault. "Piccolo and that bald guy are really going at it!"

"They're nearly all bald," Raditz said, floating down to be on level with him. "You mean Nappa. And yes, they're practically even."

"You must be joking," Vegeta said, landing on the edge of a building. "As strong as Nappa? He may be a fool, but he _is_ an elite."

"Are you really in a position to keep saying things like that?" Raditz asked. "Nappa is an elite, but any of us could crush him without effort. I may not be as strong as you yet, Vegeta, but I've gotten 10x stronger in just a year on this planet. Is it so hard to believe the others managed a similar feat?"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "How long has Bardock been here? To make such soldiers out of such...weaklings."

"8 years, give or take a few months," Raditz said.

"Surprisingly candid," Vegeta said, crossing his arms. "Your heart doesn't seem to be in this fight, Raditz."

Raditz snorted. "I've already fulfilled a lifelong goal of punching you through a building. You're the one who insists on fighting. Call me weak all you want, Vegeta. I'm nothing if not a realist."

"And just what do you mean by that?" The Saiyan prince asked, curious.

"He means we can't beat you," Kakarot said. "We're not strong enough, even together. We're just here to make sure you don't kill anyone."

"Until Bardock gets here?" His tone was mocking, but there was no doubt or uncertainty on either of their faces.

"It's not a matter of perseverance or willpower or stubbornness. Bardock is simply stronger than you," Raditz said, dropping into a ready stance. "A gap as wide as the gap between you and us. One you can't overcome just because you want to, or think you should."

Kakarot's stance and grin matched his brothers. "Just because you're an elite doesn't make you the strongest! You have to work hard to earn that place."

"You must be joking," Vegeta growled. "I'm the Prince of all Saiyans! You should be bowing before me!" Power coursed along his body. "You think you can hold me at bay just because you're the same race!? Fools!" A glowing white ball appeared in his hand, and he threw it with all his might upwards.

"We're just going to transform too, you idiot!" Raditz called.

Vegeta clenched his fist, and the orb burst open. "You need all of your power to match me!" Vegeta called, as they all heard felt the familiar pounding in their ears. "But your pathetic little allies get _nothing_!"

And then everything was lost to the roar of blood.

* * *

"Surely you feel that!?" Kami asked, as they both ran out onto the Lookout.

"What is Vegeta doing!? Raditz and Kakarot will just transform too, the power increase is the same- _shit!_ "

"Bardock?" Kami was forced back as power suddenly erupted around him.

"How could I be so _stupid_? Dammit!" And with that, he took off, almost knocking Kami down with the force of his passage.

* * *

"Whats going on!?" Tien asked. "The Saiyan-and Gohan!?" Both let out a roar as they stood up fully, now the same size. It was Yamcha who saved their lives.

" _Move!_ " He tackled both Tien and Krillin out of the way as Gohan's foot crushed the area they'd been standing. "He's too young! He can't control it!"

They split up as Gohan raged, destroying buildings left and right as he swiped at them.

"What do we do?" Krillin called.

"Go for the tail!" Yamcha said, jumping around behind Gohan. "He'll transform back-Gaah!" Nappa's blast sent him him flying.

"HA HA HA HA! Nobody told me the brat was _Saiyan_!" Nappa laughed in the booming voice of a Great Ape. "No wonder he had such fire in him! What has Kakarot been up to this whole time!?"

"Krillin," Tien said, keeping his voice down as he dodged Gohan's attacks. "He's not going to let us get Gohan's tail, not while the kid is attacking us."

"What are you thinking?" Krillin asked, as they jumped over another punch.

"Go check on Yamcha, get him a Senzu. I'm going to see if I can't redirect him."

"Be careful," Krillin said. "You might get blasted. Or you might get Gohan blasted."

"All we need is to occupy the Saiyan's attention. We get his tail first, and he won't be in a position to stop us from getting Gohan back to normal."

"I-alright. But you both better stay alive!"

Tien gave him a fierce grin. "Don't worry. I'm not planning on dying yet."

* * *

Every blow, every step, was shaking the city.

"I admit, I'm impressed," Vegeta laughed, as he blocked another punch. "Though I'm not sure what I'm impressed by more. You two having control of yourself, or someone actually having a child with this oaf!" His punch connected with Kakarot, throwing him to the ground. "At least I know why you brought the brat now!" There was flash of light as the raging ape fired a blast toward one of the earthlings. "Though it seems like it was still a mistake."

"Kakarot!" Raditz called, as he caught a punch from Vegeta and threw him away. "Go deal with your brat!"

"But-you aren't-"

"Go!" Raditz roared. "Get it over with and get back here!"

Uncertainty-like many emotions-were hard to express as a Great Ape. But it was apparent Kakarot had many well-justified misgivings about leaving Raditz to fight Vegeta. But Raditz knew that if Nappa finished the earthlings, he'd either leave Gohan to rampage or worse-kill him, and then join in. And as a Great Ape, he _would_ make a difference.

"I said go!" Raditz yelled, rushing at Vegeta. Kakarot hesitated a second longer, and then he was gone.

Vegeta caught Raditz and threw him through a building.

"Your sentimentality will get you killed," Vegeta said. "I'll make sure of it."

* * *

He couldn't keep dodging Nappa's strikes forever. The Saiyan was in full control, and while transforming hadn't increased his speed at all, he wasn't noticeably slowed.

 _They'd all been so stupid!_

Bardock, Raditz, they'd always dismissed Nappa outright. Weak, unthreatening. Maybe to them. But Piccolo was trapped between two giant, murderous apes.

He couldn't just blame the Saiyans. Bardock had warned him about Gohan. The boy had never seen a full moon, never transformed before. None of them had thought about him transforming either.

Fools, all of them. So focused on Vegeta they'd failed to remember Nappa still posed a very real threat. He almost felt like he deserved this.

He stepped back out of another swipe from Nappa, and immediately had to jump over a kick from Gohan. Tien was suddenly next to him, backing towards Nappa. It was obvious what he was trying to do, and just as obvious that even it if did work, they'd still all die.

"This is a terrible plan!" He barked at the human, as they dodged and flew around attacks from both apes. Gohan didn't seem remotely interested in Nappa.

"Do _you_ have a better one? Because I would love to hear it!"

"You have a blinding technique, right?" His mind was racing. Thre was a way out of this, there _had_ to be.

"Yeah, but I won't be able to get both of them!"

He had it. "When one of the others caches back up, use it on Nappa. I'll pin him, and they'll cut off his tail."

" _Pin_ him? How-oh!" They could sense Krillin and Yamcha catching up.

"Yamcha, distract Gohan!"

"I'm back for two seconds!" He did what was asked, despite his complaint, flying right in front of Gohan's before he started to lead him off.

"Krillin, be ready to go for Nappa's tail!"

"A-alright!"

"Go!" Piccolo yelled, and they took off. Krillin off to the left, Piccolo straight at Nappa, and Tien straight up.

"Hey ugly!" Tien yelled, well above Nappa now. "Try this on for size!"

"Oh please!" Nappa laughed. "Like you could do anything to hurt me-"

"Taiyōken!" Both Piccolo and Krillin shielded their eyes, but Nappa, not knowing what to expect, was blinded.

"Gaah! You-" He began to blunder around, swiping randomly and protecting his tail.

 _Here I go_.

Piccolo felt the familiar stretching sensation as he used his giant form. He wondered, briefly, if it was at all similar to what the Saiyans felt when they transformed. They must hate it, if that was the case.

He opened his eyes, now towering above the ground alongside Nappa, only a few feet away. He stepped forward and locked his arms around the blinded Saiyan, pinning his arms to his sides.

"What the-"

"NOW!" He could already feel like Nappa was about to snap his arms clean off to free himself. That would be fine. They only needed a few seconds.

He could hear the hum of energy, and then Krillin yelling.

"Tienzan!"

A disc of energy flashed across the rubble of the destroyed city from where Krillin stood. Just as Nappa threw his arms off, pushing him backwards, the disc connected with the very base of hit tail and sliced clean through.

"No! You sons of-"

"You're clear!" Tien called to Yamcha as they all caught their breath in the precious few seconds they had. Yamcha dropped like a stone, out of the way of Gohan's swipes, and immediately dashed behind him, taking off and flying low as he brought his hands together.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" The blue Ki wave neatly severed the tail in almost exactly the same spot as Nappa's. Gohan stiffened, and then began to shrink.

Then Piccolo heard Nappa's roar.

Power coursed all over the furious Saiyans body, and as Piccolo watched, energy burst from his mouth is a destructive line.

Aimed straight at Gohan. Gohan, who had to way to respond or resist or move or-

He wasn't thinking about it, not really. His body acted of it's own accord. He was suddenly between the blast and the boy, his body catching it, holding it for precious seconds as Gohan returned to his normal size.

Then it burst through his chest, cleaving the air where Gohan had been.

He'd saved him.

Piccolo's body shrunk, returning to it's normal size in the air.

It hit the ground with a thud, next to the unconscious Gohan.

He was dead. 

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Rage**

Horrified silence reigned across the battlefield. Nappa looked, at best, mildly disappointed, while what had just happened sunk in for the humans.

"Well, not the order I was going for, but maybe it's for the best," Nappa said, cracking his knuckles. "Vegeta might want the brat alive, if he's Saiyan. Wouldn't have minded going another round with that green guy though. He was a good fighte-" Goku's giant, booted foot would have torn Nappa in half if there'd been any more force behind it. Nappa's armor came apart and blood splattered the boot, sending the man flying. There was a loud crash when he landed, shaking the city.

"Holy...crap…" Krillin said, staring up at the ape, indistinguishable from the others save for the turtle insignia on the back of the chest plate. He was shaking, his breathing heavy. "Goku-"

Goku roared, blasting Ki from his mouth in the same direction he'd sent Nappa. They were all forced to duck as the shock wave from the blast rolled over them.

"Goku!" Yamcha yelled from where he was shielding Gohan. "What the heck is wrong with you!?"

Angry red eyes looked down at Yamcha.

"G-Goku?"

Goku raised an arm- and then there was a bright flash of light behind him. He turned and looked as the light turned back to normal, and then, abruptly, the ape sagged as it began to shrink.

Goku dropped to his hands and knees, sweat pouring down his face.

"Goku?" Krillin asked tentatively, stepping closer.

"I...I'm alright. I just...I was just...so _mad_ , and-where...where's Gohan?" He stood up, shaking himself and looking around.

"He's here," Yamcha called, standing up holding Gohan. "Knocked out, but he's alright." Goku ran over and took his son in his arms, reassuring himself.

"At least he had the right armor. I can't _believe_ we were so stupid! I-wait, where's Nappa?"

Krillin and Yamcha exchanged a look.

"Uh...Goku?" Yamcha asked hesitantly. "You don't...know?"

Goku frowned. "What do you mean? I was coming over here to help, and I saw Piccolo getting blasted, and then...and then..." He trailed off, looking troubled, before shaking himself. "Wait, what am I doing? I have to go help-"

 _ **Crash**_

Raditz hit the ground hard, bouncing once before skidding to a halt a few feet away.

Goku froze for a second, looking over at his brother, and then back down to his son, before being snapped out of it by another loud _**crash**_. This time, it was Vegeta who hit the ground, but he righted himself and took back off as fast as he could. Goku paused for a moment, staring in the direction Vegeta had gone, before hurriedly turning and handing Gohan to Krillin.

"Grab Piccolo!" He called, hurrying over to Raditz and pulling one of his older brother's arms over his shoulder.

"Kakarot? What...whats going on?" Goku ignored him, standing up and looking over to see Tien, Piccolo's body draped over his back.

"What's going on?" Krillin asked.

"I just think we might want to get out of the way," Goku answered with a tight smile. The humans exchanged looks, nodded, and everyone took off in the opposite direction Vegeta had gone, away from the echo of the distant shock waves.

* * *

"Raaaaahh!" Vegeta closed the distance between them in seconds, Bardock leaning out of the way of his punch and grabbing his arm, throwing him toward one of the few remaining buildings. Vegeta righted himself and launched from the building, ignoring the sound of cracking stone, and began attacking Bardock in earnest. The older Saiyan did little more than dodge and block, which only served to infuriate Vegeta. He drew an arm back, pulsing with energy, and fired a blast point blank. Bardock ducked, the wave passing over his left shoulder, and grabbed Vegeta's extended arm, pulling him forward and off-balance before kneeing him hard in the stomach, releasing him and then kicking him into a skyscraper.

Vegeta crashed through the top of the building, hitting part of the stone ceiling and rolling for several feet before coming to a stop, desperately trying to catch his breath and regain his feet. There was a flash, and the small dome covering him exploded, the stone and resulting dust cloud being blown away to reveal Bardock above him, arms crossed.

 _Looking down at him._

"That was pathetic," Bardock sounded almost bored, but his eyes betrayed his anger. "Kakarot wouldn't have made such a basic mistake. How do you expect to fight someone you don't like if you get so mad you forget to think?"

Vegeta took a deep, shuddering breath, standing up fully before flying up to be on level with Bardock, glaring.

"I don't need your advice, old man."

Bardock sneered, and then disappeared from his vision.

"Wha-" he turned to see the man next to him, arms brought together, before he brought them down in a hammering blow, sending Vegeta crashing down through the building, making a small crater at the base. There was a loud, creaking groan, and the building- split neatly in two- fell apart, both sides crashing to the ground.

Before he could do anything, Bardock's foot smashed hard into his back, and he could several audible snaps-though whether they were his armor or bones, he couldn't be sure.

"This seems more fitting, don't you think?" Bardock asked, grinding his foot into Vegeta's back.

"Y-you! How...dare you!? I am...the Prince…"

"And this is how you've lived your entire life. Spare me the titles, weakling."

"You...can say...whatever you like...you will _not_... _break my pride!_ " Power flared through him as he struggled to rise.

Bardock drew his foot back and stomped down again. _That_ time, it was definitely his bones.

"Would you prefer me to break your spine?" Bardock's voice was loud, angry. "How about your neck!?" Vegeta could, barely, see the faintest outline of power building up around Bardock. "Do you want to be paralyzed? Struck dumb? Dead? How about I just turn you into a pile of ash and be done with it!? Because I warn you, oh _Prince_ , I am in a _very_ bad mood!"

He couldn't answer. Couldn't _speak_. Bardock seemed to be bearing on him with more and more weight, as though he really was going to crush him into nothing.

"Can't speak? Are you _that_ weak?"

He couldn't breath.

He was going to die, like this, crushed underneath someone else's boot.

 _How he'd lived his entire life._ _What a pathetic way to go._

Then, suddenly, the pressure let up. Bardock took his foot off him and back away a step, and he could breath.

"I'd think hard about what your pride's worth, Vegeta," Bardock said quietly. "You don't strike me as a man eager to die." Then he was gone.

Vegeta could lift his head just high enough to see Kakarot in the sky, an annoyingly sad look on his face. Then he passed out.

* * *

"Half his left arm, his right foot, and his right eye." Tien stood stiffly at attention. "Vegeta has all his ribs and a small part of his lower spine shattered, and a broken arm. His injuries can be fixed by Bulma, but Nappa...I doubt even a Senzu could fix that."

"Do I look like a general to you? Stand down," Bardock said irritably, and Tien did, hiding a smile. "Kakarot really did a number on him," He muttered, running a hand through his hair. "And if Vegeta recovers enough to move, he's going to be a problem. Did Krillin find anything?"

"He said Mr. Popo knew something, and he left with him and Bulma. They're somewhere on the other side of the planet, I don't know what for." Bardock paused for a moment, before grunting, sensing them.

"I hope it's worthwhile." He paused. "I don't suppose Gohan's woken up yet?"

Tien frowned. "No. Will you tell me why it's got you and Chi-Chi all worked up? Exhaustion is normal, especially after everything he went through."

"No, I won't. And if it's that simple, I'll be happy. The others?"

"Yamcha's flying in Master Roshi and Goku and Raditz flew out to check the Saiyan's pods."

Bardock nodded. "Tell to just keep them alive, for now. No surgery unless it's necessary. We still have Senzu, so we don't have to worry about any injuries being permanent. And then relax. You're so wound up you're going to pop."

"Yes sir." Tien saluted, grinning, and left before Bardock could do anything but scowl.

He sat down, letting out a heavy sigh. Krillin and Bulma were chasing some lead from Mr. Popo after going to the Lookout, Bulma's father was seeing to the two injured Saiyans, Chi-chi was with her son, Raditz was looking to see if there was any chance Freeza had been alerted to anything that had been going on, and Kakarot was being kept busy. It was all a mess.

Piccolo and Kami were dead, taking the Dragon Balls with them, and Kakarot had been so incensed he'd all but killed the Saiyan they'd expressly wanted alive. Not that he'd been much better. He'd sensed the Guardian's passing, and seeing how close Raditz had been to death hadn't endeared Vegeta to him much.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Just thinking about made him want to go and finish what he'd started. Senzu beans wouldn't heal Nappa much at all. They couldn't regrow limbs-and they couldn't regrow eyes.

 _The Earthlings jumped in surprise when Bardock landed in the middle of the group. He ignored them, walking over to Raditz, who was slumped against a rock, blood drying on his armor._

 _He dragged Raditz's arm over his shoulders and helped him walk over to Krillin, who hurriedly fished a Senzu out of his pouch._

" _Chew and swallow," Bardock muttered._

 _Raditz, shaking slightly, swallowed the Senzu bean, still being supported by Bardock. He tensed, and let out a shaky breath, before standing up on his own. He shook himself and placed a hand over the healed hole in his stomach in shock._

" _Better?" Bardock asked, and Raditz slowly nodded, a hand reaching up to cover the burn mark over his left eye._

" _As good as I'm getting, apparently."_

" _Damn," Bardock swore, impulsively reaching out toward Raditz before checking himself. Raditz just shook his head and walked back to the rock he'd been leaning on, sitting down and looking away from them._

 _Bardock placed a hand on Gohan's head, reassuring himself, before turning to look down at Piccolo._

" _He saved Gohan?"_

 _Tien nodded. "He held the blast while Gohan changed back to normal. For just long enough."_

" _I don't suppose that's a corpse?" Bardock asked, jerking a thumb toward Nappa's blood covered body._

" _It's pretty damn close," Yamcha said distastefully. "But no, he's still breathing."_

The others had all flown off to Bulma's afterwards, taking Gohan and Nappa with them, before splitting up to try and salvage something out of this mess. He still couldn't believe how stupid they'd been.

 _If he'd taken Nappa's transformation into account-if he'd_ been _there-then Kami would be alive._

"Bardock?" He looked up to see Chi-Chi in the doorway.

"Is he up?" Bardock jumped to his feet, only to see Chi-Chi shake her head.

"I just thought you could use someone to check on you."

He raised an eyebrow at her, smiling slightly. "Thanks? I'm alright. You should be with Gohan."

"He'll be ok for a couple minutes," She said, walking further into the hallway. "He's a big boy, after all." She looked away, her voice sad, and Bardock placed a hand in her shoulder.

"Chi-Chi…"

"I know," She said, dashing a hand across her eyes and looking up at him, smiling. "He's still young, and he needs his mother. And I promise, he'll always have me. But I can't just be blind to what's going on around him." Bardock dropped his arm to his side and they wordlessly walked back to Gohan's room, the boy sleeping soundly.

"What was Gine like?" Chi-Chi asked quietly, sitting back next to Gohan.

Bardock considered the question for a long moment.

"The most gentle soul I'd ever seen in a Saiyan." He laughed softly. "Where Kakarot gets his good side."

Chi-Chi smiled up at him. "Don't sell yourself short. He's a protector, just like you."

Bardock grunted and walked to the window, and Chi-Chi stood up to follow.

"Bardock, I mean it. Goku wouldn't be close to the man he is without you."

"Oh, yes he would." Bardock said quietly, staring fixedly out the window. "I saw him facing off against Freeza, remember? Looked pretty damn similar to what he looks like today." His tail lashed irritably, for once not wrapped around his waist. "I didn't have anything to do with you two meeting. Gohan would still be around." He sighed. "Maybe he would've been able to have a normal life, too."

Chi-Chi stepped forward and hesitantly laid a hand on Bardock's shoulder.

"I don't think anyone's worse off."

"Well, the only one of us in a position to know is passed out in a hospital bed because I took him to a death match." The bitterness and self-loathing in his voice was so strong that Chi-Chi actually took a step back. There was a long pause before Bardock spoke again. "This is reality. The reality I chose. And I'll keep doing my best." He walked toward the door. "I'm going to get some air. Call me if Gohan wakes up."

The door opened, and closed. She stared at it for a moment, then walked back and sat down next to Gohan, taking his hand in hers.

She was a mortal who lived among men that acted like gods, whose decisions shaped their very reality, but never before had she felt so helpless or afraid.

When Goku entered the room, her eyes were dry, and it was too dark for him to see that they were red.

She would never let them see her cry again.

* * *

Raditz found Bardock on a hill outside West City. He'd hidden his power-level, but hadn't been particularly hard to find. He lighted down behind the man, who was sitting, staring at the city below him.

"We turned the pods and remotes over to the Briefs."

Bardock grunted.

"Kakarot's with Gohan and his wife."

He grunted again.

"And I'm fine, if you were wondering."

Grunt.

"You're an ass."

Bardock chuckled, and motioned for Raditz to sit next to him. Raditz hesitated, shrugged to himself, and sat, drawing a knee back and resting an arm on it, unintentionally mirroring his father.

"What do you remember about your mother?"

Raditz blinked. He'd thought, maybe, this would have to do with the fight, or Kakarot. But his mother?

"I…" He hesitated, not knowing what to say, but Bardock just kept his eyes trained on the city, waiting silently. "I...remember what she looked like. That she hated the armor but there weren't really any other clothes. She could cook. She'd always help me practice, but she never wanted to. Once I understood that, I stopped asking."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Is that all you remember?"

Raditz let out a pained sigh. "She loved me, the way Chi-Chi loves Gohan. I loved her right back. That wasn't something many Saiyans had."

"She'd have locked you away from the world, if she could. But she couldn't. So she had to let you go and just try to help you along." He looked down at his hand, flexing it. "And I'm doing the same thing to Chi-Chi now. Forcing Gohan to go out and face danger everyday. Leaving her behind."

"There are worse people she could be." It always bothered him when he caught Bardock like this. It'd taken a long time for him to admit to himself that the titan of a man was simply depressed.

"She deserves to be herself."

"And mother deserved to live. But that was a decision that was taken out of all of our hands."

There was something in the way Bardock reacted-a slight change of expression-that told him he had said the wrong thing.

"That's where I was today." Bardock's voice was closer to a whisper now. "A misunderstanding as stupid as our mistake with Nappa. I was ready to tear that old man in two."

"What happened?"

"When Kami was telling me about the Dragon Balls, I asked him if it would be possible to bring the Saiyans back. He told me no." He shook his head. "He meant it wasn't possible to bring back _all_ the Saiyans. This whole time it was possible to bring back Gine, but he _assumed_ I only wanted to bring the whole race back, and I _assumed_ he thought the exact opposite. Children have more complicated problems." He stood up and walked a few feet away, running his hands through his hair. "And now he's dead. So she has to stay dead too. Like I killed her all over again."

Raditz just sat there, staring out over the city. There was nothing he could say. Nothing to do. He stared out over the lights of the city, bright against the night. Bardock rested a hand on his shoulder for several seconds, and then he was gone. It would be many hours before Raditz would leave.

* * *

"It can wait until tomorrow. You look exhausted." Bardock waved Bulma's concern away.

"Not like I'd go to sleep anyway. What is this?"

"To my knowledge, the ship Kami arrived in." walked up to stand between them. "It responds to commands in his native language. Given that it is still operational, it stands to reason that his home-planet's coordinates remain intact."

"It's fast, but not as fast as our new line of ships." Bulma said, turning to face Bardock, hands on hips. "With 's knowledge of the language, we can build a translator and get the coordinates off the ship's computer."

"And the catch?"

"I'm not two people. I can work on this or I can work on your friends. Not both. And Dad has other responsibilities."

"They aren't my friends," Bardock growled, but Bulma waved a dismissive hand.

"Raditz's friends then, I don't care. Look, Kami's the one that made the Dragon Balls. And Piccolo was really strong. There's a good chance we find more Dragon Balls on his home planet, and even if not, maybe you'll find some good allies."

Bardock crossed his arms and sighed. "Okay, you're right. We can't not go. But hell if I know what to do with them. If Vegeta can move, he'll attack again, and he's going to get a significant boost after that beating. And the only place I can think to heal Nappa…is, well, at one of Freeza's bases. His healing pods might take awhile, but they can heal pretty much everything."

"Really? Bring me one of those, we could use it."

"I'll put it on the Birthday list," Bardock said, chuckling a little before sobering up. "They could fix Raditz's eye too."

"That's a pretty sensitive area of the body," Bulma said skeptically.

"And Saiyans lose eyes a lot. Giant Apes remember? They made easy targets." Bulma nodded her understanding, and Bardock began to pace. "The best thing to do would be having the three of them go to a nearby station, get healed, and meet up with us on Kami's homeworld." He let out a frustrated sigh and sat down on a nearby rock. "But how the hell am I supposed get them to actually go along with it?"

"Couldn't Raditz go alone?"

"He'd need Vegeta to vouch for him, or someone else to activate the healing pods if he just took over the station. I can't risk being revealed to Freeza and I don't trust Kakarot with technology. At all." He glanced up at her, and his expression softened. "Sorry. You must be freezing."

Bulma smiled and gripped the edges of her coat. "You should've seen me when I was in nothing but a short dress. I'm fine, really."

Bardock stood up and offered her his arm. "Still no reason to stay here and talk."

He set her down gently on the top of the Capsule Corporation, the only lights coming from the streets around them. Bulma shed her coat and shook herself slightly.

"Thanks for the lift. Is not being bothered by weather a Saiyan thing?"

Bardock shrugged. "Kakarot shivers enough for all of us. When you go planet hopping like we do, you get used to some pretty extreme weather conditions."

"And Goku never did…" Bulma murmured, walking over to a railing and leaning on it. There hadn't really been much of a roof up here, but with everyone flying over the last couple years, they'd added a little landing pad. "Would the Saiyans honor a deal? Their lives to get Raditz patched up?"

"You think of some pretty dark things sometimes."

"You're a bad influence," She joked, turning to face him. "But would they?"

"I don't know," He answered truthfully. "We'd only need Vegeta to agree, but I have no way to know if he'd be telling the truth."

"What, no warrior's code or anything?"

Bardock gave her a pained look. "Bulma, we're a race of space _pirates_. Vegeta's got pride to spare, but that doesn't mean he's got any morals to go with them."

Bulma sighed. "It's like a puzzle where the pieces don't have to fit," She muttered. "But I don't know of any glue we have to make them stick."

"What?" Bardock looked at her curiously.

"I-never mind. I need a smoke."

"Or not." She rolled her eyes at the irritation in Bardock's voice.

"Aren't you supposed to be Goku's dad? Leave me alone." She returned Bardock's smile as he walked to the edge of the roof.

"Maybe it'll help to sleep on it. Figure out whatever…'glue' we need."

"I forget how much you don't know about Earth. See you tomorrow." Bardock waved, and left, and she went inside and down to her room, throwing herself on the bed. They'd figure it out. They had to.

* * *

 _Things had changed._

 _It was the same planet, the same darkened sky, the same green water frozen mid-wave. But he wasn't in the same area. He'd revisited his dream world many times since that first night, walking through the same space, around the same craters and ridges, often enough that he knew he was in a different part of the planet. But there were other difference that he could see._

 _The first, and most obvious, were the presence of his Dad's friends. They were on the ridge farthest closest to the edge of the island, Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha. Their faces were in various stages of shock, Yamcha's arm shielding his eyes from the bright light coming from what the center._

 _He started walking._

 _The big, bald Saiyan they'd been fighting was there, down on one knee, a hand held over a hole in his stomach. He'd been in the dream before, either passed out or dead. He seemed to have fared better this time._

 _Then it was himself and Piccolo, just as they had been before, Piccolo a little further ahead, as though he was attempting to shield him._

 _The only other person he could make out was his uncle Raditz, closest to the bright light, in the same kind of shape as the other Saiyan, kneeling with a hand over his stomach. His face was a mixture of pain and horror, eyes fixated on the light. Gohan stopped short of it. It was one giant bubble of yellow, and he couldn't see inside. But he wouldn't get scared this time._

 _He moved forward, the light slowly enveloping. For a moment, he was surrounded by light, and then it began to clear-_

 _ **WHAM!**_

"I've got it!"

"Wha-"

"Aaah!"

"Bulma, you woke him up!"

"Sorry!"

"Aah-"

"Kakarot, stop screaming!"

Gohan sat up, breathing heavily, looking around quickly. A guilty-looking Bulma stood in the doorway, the door slowly swinging back on its hinges. His Mother and Father were sitting together on one side of the bed, Mom holding his hand and Dad nursing his head. Grandpa had been sitting on the other side of the bad, but was most of the way out of his chair, leaning over Gohan, drawing his fist back from Dad. Bulma had woken all 4 of them up.

Mom hugged him immediately.

"Oh, you had me so worried! Don't worry, you're safe here!"

He hugged her back on reflex, looking over her arm toward his father, whose face had softened into concern.

"Are you alright, Gohan? I'm sorry you had to go through that."

He pulled back from his Mother, still in her grasp, and looked at his Father properly.

"It's ok. We'll be able to wish Piccolo back, right?" Mom made a strange noise, but just smiled when he looked at her. It was Grandpa who answered, frowning at him slightly.

"Not with our Dragon Balls, but we think we might be able to."

Gohan grinned. "I'm sure we can!" Grandpa frowned for a second longer, locking eyes with him, before smiling slightly.

"Well if you say so, I won't worry about it." Dad and Bulma laughed, and Mom released him, motioning for Dad to back up so he could get out of bed. As he did, he realized that he was still wearing the jumpsuit Bulma had made him, his armor sitting in the corner of the room.

"Come on," Mom said, extending a hand to him. "Let's leave them to talk and get you in some normal clothes." He took her hand and followed her out the room. He thought he had an idea of what they were talking about.

* * *

"Oh, I wish I'd known you were all here," Bulma said. "I'd have brought a camera! All of you, passed out around his bed-It was adorable!"

Bardock rolled his eyes, and Kakarot laughed. "Well, not everyone. Raditz wasn't here."

Bulma waved a dismissive hand, before she became serious. "That's what I 'got', by the way. How we can get Vegeta to heal Raditz."

Kakarot perked up, looking at her hopefully.

"It's just…well, you want to fight with them eventually, right? So you wouldn't mind...making them stronger. Right?"

"You're not saying we should give them a wish?" Bardock asked in disbelief, and Bulma hurriedly shook her head.

"No! No, let me explain. See, a gravity machine, like what you guys trained with, is actually really easy to put in a spaceship. Dad and I were looking into it, since I thought you'd all want to keep training even if you were traveling. _So_ , I was thinking that the three Saiyans would go to a station to get healed, and after all three of them are patched up, Raditz can transmit their location back to me, and I can send two ships with those machines installed to their location on autopilot-one for Raditz, one for the other two. I can even time-lock one of the ship's so Raditz has time to get away from them. And the best part? I can make sure their machine can't go as high as the ones you guys train with, so you'll still be stronger than them!"

She threw her arms up triumphantly, clearly waiting for something like applause. Kakarot looked utterly lost, but Bardock felt a grin creep across his face.

"Bulma, I do believe I owe you an early birthday present."

She clapped her hands together, an evil smile on her face.

"So I'll get you a ship ready too, then?"

Kakarot looked at his father, a little wary.

"What's going on?"

"All you need to know is Raditz is going to get healed." He rested a hand on his son's shoulder. "And you and I are going on a field trip."

* * *

 **No, I'm not dead. I got bumped up to full time at work, had some writer's block, and also have the attention span of a particularly excitable squirrel. More of this got written during my breaks than my days off.**

 **That being said, I have no intention of abandoning this story, and I'm sorry if I ever made anyone think otherwise. I'm just honestly this bad at time management.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Gravity**

 _ **35G**_

The two Saiyans moved slowly around the ship, their movements deliberate and measured, more exercise than spar.

Bardock blocked a high kick, stepping to the side and punching with his right hand. Kakarot mirrored his sidestep, but chose not to counter.

"What's on your mind?" Bardock asked, slowly advancing.

"Nothing important," Kakarot said, bringing a knee up to force Bardock back. The older Saiyan blocked the knee, ceasing his advance, but not retreating either.

"If you want to talk, talk," Bardock said, swaying out of the way of a punch, grabbing his son's arm, pulling him forward and off-balance before planting a knee in his stomach and forcing him backwards. Kakarot planted his feet firmly under him, sliding back slightly, and blocked a follow-up punch.

"It's just...well, you got to Earth right before the old King Piccolo showed up, right?"

"Yeah…" He dodged around a few punches from Kakarot.

"So why didn't you...well, help?" Bardock stepped back, ducked under a high kick, and stepped back in, circling around Kakarot and grabbing his arms, pinning them, and lifting him up in the air. Kakarot struggled for a minute, legs flailing uselessly, before giving up, relaxing his muscles. Bardock let him down, grinning.

"I win."

"Because that's new," Kakarot said, with a trace of bitterness.

"Oh don't give me that," Bardock said, gesturing toward one of the padded benches lining the wall. Kakarot walked over and sat down, while he went over to the gravity machine.

 _ **40G**_

"If we're supposed to be resting why are you _upping_ the gravity?"

"We were practicing form, not sparring. How much rest do you need?" Bardock sat down next to his son, and they were quiet for a moment. "I know those memories aren't your favorite. And I would've done something if I ever thought you were in real danger." He paused for a moment, remembering that painful moment when Kami had stopped him, and decided Kakarot didn't need to hear about it. "But as for why I didn't step in? First, Kami had told me about the Dragon Balls at that point. I knew your friends wouldn't have to stay dead, or even you, for that matter-not that it was up for debate-and second, real battle-experience, trials, fighting opponents stronger than yourself-that's invaluable, especially for Saiyans. Besides, can't you just _hear_ everyone joking about your dad having to come help?"

Kakarot laughed for a moment, before falling silent.

"I...suppose...they would, huh? Weird."

"Kakarot?"

"Just-having you around. Raditz. Everything feels so strange sometimes."

Bardock eyed his son, who just shrugged and stood up, stretching.

"No point in just sitting, right? We've only got a day."

Bardock stood up as well. There was no reason to make anything of what Kakarot had just said. He shouldn't get distracted.

"We'll leave the gravity turned up."

* * *

 _ **25G**_

Nappa let out an audible grunt as he got up and limped over to the fridge.

"Oh come on," Raditz said in disgust from across the ship. He and Vegeta were set up around a virtual display of a strategy game. "It's only 25G. You actually lived a few decades at home. It shouldn't be that hard."

"I'm sorry, one-eye, some of us are missing limbs," Nappa growled.

"You're missing a foot and a forearm, not a limb," Vegeta said dismissively, moving a piece on the virtual board. He was awkwardly hunched in the chair, a makeshift back brace ruining his posture. It worked better than it looked, as Bardock had insisted it look like something the other Saiyans had put together for him.

The mood on the ship was oddly relaxed. Even before, when they'd been on assignment together, they'd never really joked or played games. Mostly they'd slept, trained, or, Nappa remembered wistfully, picked on Raditz, who, in their current states, could likely kill both of them.

Good memories.

"You've gotten better." Vegeta sounded bored as Nappa pulled his head out of the fridge, beer in hand. Strategy games had been the only kind he'd ever been able to get the younger Saiyan to play, and he still got bored quickly.

"The Earthlings have a very similar game called chess," Raditz said, making an irritated noise as Vegeta took a piece. "Bardock took a set and modified it. Used to play with that old Namekian."

The species was on their database, though marked low priority, given the poor state of their planet.

"There were two of them?" Nappa asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down to watch them play.

"Sort of? I didn't ask for details, but Kakarot said the two of them used to be the same person. So killing Piccolo killed the other."

Nappa hummed in thought. "So killing the first guy killed his gaming buddy...is that why he broke Vegeta's back?"

"Shut up, Nappa."

"Yeah, probably."

"You shut up too, or I'll poke out your other eye."

"I really shouldn't be surprised you're a sore loser," Raditz said mildly, moving a piece to put Vegeta's base in check. "I'm just not used to seeing you lose."

Vegeta took Raditz's piece. "And you won't get used to it." Only a few moves later, it was Vegeta's victory. Raditz dejectedly hit the reset button, and the screen flickered back to the start.

"Playing with your old man certainly didn't make you that much better."

"Oh, please Vegeta," Nappa said, rolling his eyes. "You're both terrible."

"Excuse me!?" The younger Saiyan was aghast at Nappa's rudeness, but the bald man just waved his remaining hand.

"Budge over, Raditz. I'll show you both how this is done."

He beat the two of them in less time than their game had taken. Raditz stared at the frozen screen in astonishment.

"I thought all being general meant was that you got to be at the front of the charge."

"I sure got to," Nappa said, leaning back in his chair and stretching. "But you gotta know where to charge from, kid." Raditz scoffed and got up, walking over to the window. Vegeta was busy pretending Nappa didn't exist, which suited him fine. If Vegeta wasn't barking orders or criticisms at him, he rarely looked at him.

It hadn't bothered him much-Vegeta was a Prince, after all, and used to having his way-but it had been nagging at him since they'd left Earth.

He'd rarely thought about his relationship with the Prince-he served the Royal family. He had always, just like his father and so on. Maybe it was the shock of seeing Vegeta bested. The man believed so firmly and fiercely in his own invincibility that Nappa had believed in it too. A notion that, must like his spine, had recently been shattered.

He forced down a laugh. The other two didn't care much for his jokes, and he could do without Vegeta blasting a hole in him.

He wanted to say _another_ hole, but Kakarot hadn't pierced through him at any point. Just almost melted him. He didn't think he'd ever call himself an elite again. The Saiyan title held no meaning anymore, all of the 'lower-class' warrior's far outranking him. Sure, he might be stronger than the kid, but the kid was also five. So it wasn't really a consolation.

No, he wasn't an elite. But, as he looked over at Vegeta, he knew he wasn't out of a job.

He was a bodyguard to the Prince of all Saiyans.

And that suited him just fine.

* * *

 _ **1G**_

"Ready?"

Kakarot hopped a few times, fixed the scouter to his eye, and nodded.

"Alright, stay put."

There was the sound of the airlock alarm going off, and Bardock was out of the ship. The outpost-if it even deserved the name-was just an older model single ship. Vegeta had estimated the crew to range from 10-30, and Bardock guessed, from the lights he could see, that the actual number was right around 20. There was very little of value in this part of space, and Bardock was grateful for that. The smaller, older model ship would be much easier to take and silence than the outposts he'd gotten used to.

All model ships had some form of external power source-solar panels, normally-but this particular model kept its main generator on the outside. There was a backup of course, but that took time to activate.

His first blast destroyed the generator, causing the ship to shake and all the lights to flicker, his second blast striking next to the docking bay. The lights on the ship started to come back on, and he pressed the com button on his scouter.

"Alright, come on."

A few seconds later, the airlock opened and Kakarot joined him. Bardock beckoned wordlessly, and they slowly flew over to the ship, lighting down on top of it. He walked over the doors, ignoring the smoking machine next to it, and knelt down, gripping each door and after a seconds strain, pried them apart, wide enough for them to fit through.

"Won't they hear that?"

"You'd be surprised," Bardock grunted. "And I disabled the alarm for a reason. Now be quiet." He hopped in the gap, and Kakarot followed, drifting down to the floor of the ship. Only a few lights seemed to be on throughout the ship-the backup generator seemed to be struggling. They could hear people yelling, but couldn't make anything out.

"Scouter," Bardock whispered, and Kakarot mirrored him, powering up the device.

Bulma's new scouters had a number of added features, which included night vision, heat sensing, and-most useful in this instance-the ability to identify other scouters.

They moved out into the hallway, moving from shadow to shadow, Kakarot following Bardock's lead. The scouter beeped.

 _3 heat signatures, collective power: 1400 No scouter detected_

He grabbed Kakarot's arm and jumped, hovering in the air under one of the out lights. He hoped it wouldn't power back on.

They watched the soldiers run under them, but didn't drop back down until they were out of sight. They continued without further incident until they reached the healing chamber. Bardock waved his hand over the pad, and the door opened.

"Huh? Whose there-"

Bardock's hand clamped over the man's mouth, his other arm wrapping his neck. It wasn't much of a struggle, the _crack_ echoing around the room as the door closed.

"Alright, watch the door. I need to power this thing down before I disconnect it." He ran over to the control pad and began inputting commands, glancing over his shoulder. "Hey!" He snapped.

Kakarot tore his eyes away from the soldier on the floor, looked at Bardock for a long second, and then shook himself.

"Sorry."

"Just make sure nothing and no one gets in here. We'll only have a minute or two before they check in here." Standard procedure for when these pods shutdown was draining the water, but they needed some of it for Bulma to analyze, so he had to override it.

Either they'd gotten lucky and the soldiers had already swept this room, or they were bad at their job, because it took Bardock several minutes to get the damn thing to power off. He ran around the side and began unhooking the pipes and cable connecting to the pod. The door slid open.

"Hey! Who are you!?"

 _Crash_

He could the lights of energy blasts hitting the walls Kakarot deflected them. He pulled the last cable out and leapt over the pod as Kakarot knocked two of the soldiers back.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" The blasts force was severely decreased, but still left rather detailed impressions of the two soldiers in the wall.

"No more Ki blasts!" He barked, firing his own small blast at an approaching soldier. Kakarot looked confused, but ducked a swipe from a nearby soldier, slamming his elbow into the man's chest and knocking him out.

The hallway temporarily clear, Bardock turned back to the machine.

"Keep watch! Don't let anything hit the machine!"

"Are you sure it'll move?"

Bardock rolled his eyes. " _Yes_ , I'm sure it'll move. This machine is newer than the station. Now there's more goons on this ship, keep watch."

The Healing Pod was wider and longer than him-they were designed as a 'one size fits all'-but the weight wasn't an issue. He pushed the machine back onto the power station, bracing it against the edge to lean it back, before grabbing the bottom of it and lifting.

It was leaning against his body for the most part, severely limiting his vision, but the scouter had mapped the route back out and to the ship.

"Go ahead and clear the way. We need to get and out and blow this place fast."

"W-wait, what!?"

" _Move_ , Kakarot!"

He did, leading the way back to the entrance. The soldiers didn't seem to want to fight anymore. Kakarot hesitated again.

" _What!?"_

"What about everyone on the ship?"

"What about-are you serious!?" Kakarot's face said he was, and Bardock made a disgusted noise. "Take this and go, then! I should've waited and brought Raditz!" He looked up and blasted the doors clear off. "Go!" Kakarot, very pale, just nodded and flew off. Bardock turned around and fired a dozen energy blasts, scattering them throughout the ship, before bellowing at the top of his lungs " _You've got 10 seconds!_ "

* * *

Goku let out a sigh of relief as he watched Dad fly out to the ship. The healing pod was aboard the ship, and the station was still intact. He hurried to open the upper hatch.

The station exploded.

He froze, staring out into the now debris-littered space. He could see a few lights-small ships-flying off into the distance, but counted no more than 3. Dad dropped down next to him, hitting the button to close the hatch and adjusting his arm guard, the glow of power around him fading.

"You...y-you...they can't possibly all have gotten off!"

The ship beeped to indicate that they were clear to go into the main body of the ship.

"Not all of them did." There was a dangerous edge to his father's voice as they dropped down into the ship, the door closing above them.

"But-but that's-they weren't even fighting us anymore! Destroying them was just…murder!"

His father hit him.

He reeled, the _smack_ ringing in his ears as a hand reflexively reached up to his chin.

"Are you even thinking at all!? Don't you even realize that you could've just gotten your brother killed!?"

He stared at him, dazed.

"Their cover is that they got injured fighting _me_. If footage from that station got transmitted because you made me hesitate in destroying that base, they're dead. If those soldiers have any means of contacting an information station in those pods, the ones you _insisted_ I let live, they're dead. What did you think we were doing!? If you didn't have the spine to go through with it, you should've told me no!"

Goku turned away. There was nothing he could say.

"I know you haven't had a traditional Saiyan upbringing, but I was expecting a warrior of you, Kakarot. Mercy has no place in this war."

 _You're wrong._

He didn't say it. Not out loud. But he knew, at least in this, his father was wrong. How many friends had he made out of enemies in his life? Really, who _hadn't_ been an enemy first? Even Chi-Chi had faced him in the tournament. Bulma had thought he was some kind of Wild-man.

He heard a sigh. "The cameras probably didn't transmit anything, and the escape pod's probably can't either." Dads voice was softer than before, a conciliatory note. He didn't look over at him, not trusting himself. He'd never been yelled at like this, not by him. "So let's just leave it, ok?"

Goku dashed a hand across his eyes, shook himself, and nodded. If his father noticed, he gave no sign of it.

There was the now familiar rumble of the ship starting back up, now heading back home, and of the gravity machine starting back up. For perhaps the first time in his life, he was less than eager at the thought of resuming training.

 _ **25G**_

Dad had disappeared, but re-emerged from a side room he hadn't been in before, carrying a couple of training dummy's.

"You need to work on energy control."

"Really?" The question slipped out before he could help himself, and he braced for the rebuke.

"Your direction and intensity control is fine," Dad said, not responding to his question. "But if we're fighting in space, you can't go blowing giant holes in ships." He pulled out a marker, and drew circles all over the dummy's, small enough that he could barely see them. "You need to work on size and power. These training dummies are made of the same kind of material as our armor, all the way through. I want you to blast these circles-and no other part of the dummy-all the way through, without doing any real damage to the ship."

"What counts as a mess-up?" He asked, the familiarity of the drill structure comforting him. Dad grinned at the question.

"Overdoing it, under-doing it, or taking longer than 3 minutes between shots. Every new training dummy I bring out drops the time between shots by 30 seconds. You go until I think you've gotten the hang of it."

"Penalty?"

"Gravity goes up by 5 every mess up. If you want to be able to walk, I suggest you avoid doing so. Stand just away from the opposite wall. Ready? Go."

* * *

 _ **1G**_

Vegeta was the first out of the healing pod. He had healed a great faster than predicted, thanks in no small part to the Earthlings care. He still wasn't sure why Bardock had bothered making them help him.

The healing chamber was empty, apart from the other two in their tanks, the door closed and lights dimmed. He had picked out a station specifically used for healing, so they wouldn't have to take turns.

He sat down against the wall, drawing a knee back and staring out a window on the opposite wall.

 _What the hell was going on?_

The most surprising thing, if he was honest with himself, was that he wasn't angrier. More than anything, he felt tired, and out of sorts. Nothing was happening the way he had expected, and part of him had surrendered to the strange flow of events.

He closed his eyes and went over it all in his mind.

Bardock was stronger than him. He knew that, with the Zenkai boost he'd received, that a fight he was properly prepared for would be a great deal closer than the last one, but there was a nagging doubt in his mind, telling him that it ultimately wouldn't matter.

Raditz and his brother had advanced at an incredible pace. He couldn't say no to the technology they had used for training, not while in control of his senses. Raditz had been the butt of every joke, and rightly so-and had blown past Nappa to stand against him.

Nappa had been behaving oddly since. It hadn't been a particularly long trip, but the bigger man had been strangely quiet, and seemed to have thrown away his usual subservience as well. He tended to be abrasive and loud, but would always defer to Vegeta at the slightest sign he was bothering him. He wondered if the man was shaken from his near-death experience, or something else.

Kakarot had certainly not been what anybody had been expecting. His time among the Earthlings certainly showed. His fighting instincts might not be dulled, but he was naive. The absolute confidence he'd shown in his father could easily prove to be a fatal weakness as well.

The Earthlings had proven an effective, if low level fighting force, able to survive against a stronger and more experienced fighter in Nappa, and the Namekian had even been evenly matched with him. With development, they could be useful.

Thinking of it all in the scope of waging war with Freeza, he was forced to admit Bardock hadn't been wasting his time on Earth. But he knew that a dozen medium-level fighters would do nothing against Freeza. There was a bitter taste in his mouth as he stared out into space.

 _All the Saiyans should know that._

He heard the beeping of Raditz's tank going off and he closed his eyes, keeping his breathing level. A minute later, he felt Raditz sit down next to him.

"If you're asleep, I'm a woman."

"You've got the hair for it."

"Haha." He opened his eyes, Raditz just visible in his peripheral vision. The regrown skin around his eye had the same pinkish tint skin usually had after rapid regrowth. It only lasted for a few hours, though he wondered if Nappa would be sporting it for longer.

"How long will it be for him?"

"A few hours, probably," Vegeta said, glancing over at Nappa's pod. "These models were only designed a few months ago."

Raditz grunted, and they were quiet for a moment.

"...What are you going to do?" Vegeta closed his eyes, knowing the question had been coming and not knowing how to answer it. "You've got to know working for Freeza won't last. Even without everything else that's happened." Raditz continued. "If you're going to be fighting him, you might as well-"

"Is this the part where you give me a fucking pamphlet?" Vegeta growled, cutting him off and standing up. "I'm not interested in being some stupid kind of freedom fighter, I don't care about your little friends, and if I'm not going to work for Freeza, why in the HELL would I work for your pathetic excuse for a father!?" He caught Raditz's gaze and held it, neither of them yielding. "I won't become soft like your family, weakling."

Raditz closed his eyes, not responding.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying not to make any smart-ass comments." Raditz stood up, stretching. "Look, I don't give a damn about the Earthlings. And I won't argue with you about Kakarot either. But don't forget that you and Nappa are alive because we decided you got to live. _Not_ because we couldn't bring ourselves to kill you." He walked over to the window, resting his elbows on the sill. "And no one is stupid enough to ask you to work for them. It's about cooperating to take down a bigger threat. And if we succeed?" He was silent for a moment. "Hell...I don't even know what I'm going to do. Let alone anything about you."

Vegeta scoffed before catching sight of Raditz's expression.

"What, really?"

"I know, I know," Raditz said, pushing back from the window. "I'm the only with family left, so I should stick with them, right? It's just...I think he knew."

"What?" Vegeta wasn't conscious of walking up beside him, frowning at Raditz's statement.

Raditz kept his eyes trained out the window. "I think Bardock knew about Vegeta. The planet, I mean. That Freeza was going to destroy it. The way he acts and the things he says whenever it's brought up-I think he must've had a chance to beat Freeza there."

Vegeta digested that for a second.

"And he didn't take it."

"No," Raditz said, turning to face him. "And if-if that son of a bitch let my mother, and all my friends die there, then…" They locked eyes. "It's been the 3 of us for years now, Vegeta. Who's to say that has to change?"

* * *

 _ **1G**_

Cui gestured to the men on the other side of the door to hit the button. The door slid open, and he stepped in front of it, the only one visible to those inside the room.

"Well well well, Vegeta. All healed up?"

"And so I tell the guy, 'what do you think I'm here for, tourism?" Raditz laughed, and Vegeta just grunted, eyes closed.

"Uh-"

"And then, and then the-whatever the hell it was-just says 'we don't welcome tourists,' all serious like, because apparently their species doesn't understand sarcasm."

"H-hey, you three-"

"So I say, 'Well, this is a pretty enough rock, you'll have great tourism soon enough', and this thing, just _really_ not getting it-"

"Stop ignor-"

"starts going on about how a couple of no-good, lowly aliens can't tell them what to do!"

"-ing me!"

"And then _Vegeta_ ,"

"Yes, I blew him up Nappa, I know, _I was there!_ "

"Man, you missed some great times with us. Little Prince Vegeta was downright _cute_ sometimes. Ego bigger than his father's before he came up to the man's knees." Raditz and Nappa burst out laughing, Vegeta growling and looking away.

"Do you _want_ me to put you back in that pod, Nappa?"

" _I said stop ignoring me!_ "

Vegeta sighed. "Speaking of people begging to be injured," He stood up. "What do you want, Cui?"

"What-you-I-how _dare_ you talk me with such disrespect!" Cui sputtered. "Do you really think Lord Freeza would allow you treat me like this!?"

"Yes."

"..."

Cui glared at him.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you."

"Oh please," Vegeta rolled his eyes. "I doubt you could beat Raditz, let alone touch me."

"Ha! Please, Vegeta, that old man must've knocked you silly. That stupid, low-level monkey trash couldn't do-Hrgk!"

He looked down to see Raditz's elbow protruding from his stomach, and his gaze rose to meet Raditz's smirk.

"Sorry, you're gonna have to speak up. My arm appears to be lodged in your chest."

"Wh...whaaa..." Blood was dripping from Cui's mouth and down onto Raditz's arm.

"Stop bleeding on me!" Raditz pulled his arm out, drawing it back, and then Cui exploded.

"Vegeta! I was going to do that!"

"I know. That's why I did it first."

"Kill stealer!"

"Do you have any idea how long I've had to put up with that insufferable purple bastard? I earned that."

"Raditz, there's plenty of other guys out there you can blow up," Nappa said, his tone conciliatory. Raditz rolled his eyes and turned to fire at the incoming soldiers.

* * *

 _ **1G**_

"So they knew about Bardock," Nappa said, as they walked to the now abandoned cafeteria. "Does that mean we're all dead?"

Raditz nudged a dead soldier out of the way. "I'm sure they'll get us any minute now."

"You know what I mean!" Nappa said, exasperated.

"I'm not sure I do," Vegeta replied, throwing himself into an empty chair. "Now go get us some food." Nappa grumbled, but obeyed, walking off toward the kitchens.

Raditz sat opposite the table from Vegeta, sighing.

"I didn't think this would take long, but I thought I'd at least get to eat _before_ we had to kill everyone on the station."

Vegeta grunted in agreement. "I'm surprised Cui was cleared to have information about Bardock. Power levels don't take personality into account, I suppose."

Nappa emerged from the kitchen, awkwardly balancing three trays of food.

"I wasn't going to try and cook anything, but they must have been planning to feed us before this. It's all still warm." He sat the trays down and pulled out a chair, the other two already eating before he sat down. "Did they make the servers and cooks attack us, or do they make soldiers _be_ the servers and cooks?"

"There's never any servers," Raditz said between bites. "You two just always made me go get food for all of us."

"Oh," Nappa said thoughtfully. "So...why did I have to get it?"

"It's called third place, get used to it." Raditz didn't seem to be trying to keep the gloating note out of his voice.

Vegeta finished eating first, leaning back in his chair contentedly.

"I suppose I can put off killing Bardock until after Freeza," The Prince said, his tone calm and thoughtful. "I'm bound to get stronger fighting the bastard and his goons anyway."

"Then we'd better be taking my ship when it gets here."

"...Why?" A note of suspicion had crept into Vegeta's voice, and Raditz shrugged.

"Oh, the one for you two is heavily sabotaged."

"What!?"

"Everything works, just not as well as mine. That woman also locked up the navigation and tracking for a while, so you couldn't follow me."

"The one who made the back brace?"

"Yep."

"Bitch," Vegeta muttered. "I can respect that."

Nappa snorted, but made sure his mouth was full when Vegeta turned to glare at him.

"Assuming nothing went wrong on Bardock's and Kakarot's little adventure," Raditz said. "We'll probably be heading for the Namekian homeworld."

"What were the two of them doing?" Nappa asked.

"Going to retrieve a healing pod. The woman thinks she'll be able to replicate it."

"Replicate technology that advanced?" Vegeta scoffed. "What makes any of you think she can?"

Raditz blinked, then slowly and deliberately looked down at this armor, adjusted his scouter, and met Vegeta's glare.

"I have _no_ idea."

"Smartass."

* * *

 _ **1G**_

"Welcome back!" Bulma, Chi-Chi and Gohan waved at them from the railing above the improvised landing pad, as the two of them walked out, the healing pod carried carefully between them.

"Wow," Bulma said, hurrying the steps. "I was expecting to be cracked, or something." She rapped her knuckles on the glass. "I suppose when it's built for space travel, it's built for space travel."

"I fully expected you to crack it," Bardock grunted.

"Oh, shut up."

"Are you alright?" Chi-Chi asked Kakarot in concern. "You're a mess!"

Kakarot clothes were torn and ragged, save for the weighted clothes underneath, but he just laughed.

"Oh, no, this was all from Dad. I wore armor when we were fighting!" Chi-Chi frowned, but Gohan laughed, causing his mother's frown to deepen further.

"He's fine," Bardock said through a yawn. "Now come on, I want to put this down already."

Bulma directed them inside to a cleared space to leave the pod.

"I can get to it later," She said, waving them back outside. "We translated the coordinates for Kami's home planet while you guys were gone. It's called Namek, go figure."

"At least they named their planet after the whole of their race," Bardock grunted.

"What was your planet called?"

"Vegeta."

They laughed as Bulma led them to another courtyard, where a different ship was waiting for them.

"The gravity machine on this one can go up to 100x Earth's gravity." Bulma said. "They're part of a new line. This one's for you two, and we outfitted another for Krillin and the others. Raditz's can go up to 100 too."

"I doubt they'll actually make it up to 100." Bardock was talking to himself more than the rest of them. "But Raditz should be able too…"

"The trip will take about 4 days," Bulma continued. "But we've stocked it with food for a month-and yes, a month for Saiyans, not humans. Also, I locked it," She held up a key. "So _somebody_ doesn't get in and eat it all." Kakarot turned red, but laughed with the others.

"It's not gonna be that long of a trip," Kakarot said. "Why do we need so much food?"

"We don't know how long finding the Dragon Balls will take." Bardock said, turning to him.

"You don't think the Namekian will share food with us?"

Bardock let out an exasperated sigh. "They don't eat, Kakarot."

"...oh." His son said, frowning.

"You seriously didn't notice, after _three years_ up there, that Kami never ate?"

"Well _sorry_ I was a little distracted by the whole 'I have a father' thing! It's not like it ever came up!" Bardock blinked, taken aback by the sudden outburst. "I'm not stupid!"

"I…" Bardock began, but before he could actually say anything, Kakarot was gone.

Shocked silence reigned around the courtyard.

"I'll...be back," Bardock said, barely loud enough to be heard, flying slowly in the direction his son had gone.

Kakarot had lighted down on a hill overlooking the city, the same one that Bardock had been on when he'd spoken to Raditz a few nights previously. His leg was drawn back, and he was resting his head on his knee.

"I'm sorry," He muttered, his voice muffled.

"No," Bardock sighed, sitting next to him. "I am. I shouldn't pick on you like that."

"I know it's a joke," Kakarot said, resting his chin on his knee so he could speak clearly. "It's just...I'm not...I'm not you. Or Raditz. I don't notice the things you do, I don't think the way you guys do. I'm not...a good Saiyan. I'm not even really a Saiyan at all."

Kakarot started and looked down where Bardock had just poked him with his tail.

"You look like a Saiyan to me," Kakarot smiled slightly. "But you know what? You're right."

"What?"

"You aren't a good Saiyan. Your instincts aren't the same as Raditz and mine. You aren't trained to study a race for all their potential weaknesses and strengths. You aren't hard in a fight, and really, you aren't cut out for this at all." Bardock threw an arm around his son's shoulders and smiled. "You're a fighter, not a soldier. You're an Earthling. And you're my son. I think that's just fine."

Kakarot grinned, and to Bardock's surprise, moved closer and threw his arms around him. Bardock patted him on the back awkwardly, unsure of what to do, and to his relief, his son pulled away, still smiling.

"I'd better go see if they need help. And...apologize." Kakarot stood up, stretched, and looked at Bardock curiously.

"I'll be down in a bit."

He sat and watched Kakarot fly off, before laying back, resting his head on his arms.

"Worried that he's not enough like his genocidal, planet conquering brother and father? What a strange life you lead, son."

If he closed his eyes, he could just picture himself at the end of a job, his crew around him, laughing and joking and letting him rest. Only now, he saw the image differently. For the first time, he saw the burned out buildings around them, the corpses they so callously sat on, and the smoke on the horizon.

So he didn't close his eyes. Not at first.

Some Earthlings believed that just past the sky lay the afterlife. Or at least, the good part of it. It seemed so simplistic it bordered on stupid to someone who traveled between stars. But right now, the idea that he could reach out and grab it-the idea that it was right there-was so appealing. He reached his hand above his head, grabbing at the sky.

"Was that alright Gine? Was I a good father?" He clenched his fist. "Well, hopefully you'll be able to tell me soon enough. So long as there's a way to get you back I swear I will. We won't be apart for much longer." He lowered his hand, and closed his eyes, drifting off to dreams of happier days, and darker times. And softly, right as he was falling asleep, there was a woman's whisper:

" _You're doing just fine, my love."_

It wove through his dreams, and he forgot it the moment he woke up.


	13. Chapter 115

**11.5**

 **Recap**

 **A/N: This is not an actual chapter, so if you're not interested in...behind the scenes stuff, I guess, save yourself some time.**

 **This is something I'm writing more to amuse myself than anything. With the end of Chapter 11, the first arc is essentially over, with everyone on their way to Namek. So I thought I'd kind of catalog where all the characters are at and share some thoughts on the story.**

 **First off, I do want to apologize for the upload speed. I said I didn't make any promises, and I'm glad I did-I'm very easily distracted. I'm not going to make a set commitment, but I am going to try to work out some kind of writing schedule for myself going forward.**

 **Secondly, I haven't said it much before, but I do really appreciate feedback. Whether it's about the more technical/grammar aspects of the story, ideas, or just general feedback, I'd love to hear from all of you. I have most of the story plotted out, but talking with some of you has given me ideas in the past, not to mention fixed previous errors in the story. (*cough* resurrecting Gine *cough*). It helps remind me that there really are people out there who want to read this, and that helps get me to write.**

 **This story is going to follow the general outline of arcs from DBZ-and just DBZ, mind. This story ends with Buu. If and how I expand on it afterwards will be decided later. So this is sort of the conclusion of the Saiyan Arc, moving into the Namek sub-arc before onto Freeza, and so forth. The actual content of these arcs will be my own, and I do not intend for all the same things that happened in the show to be mirrored here. That's just the direction the story will be going.**

 **Having said that, there are issues with the content of the story I would appreciate feedback on, namely in relation to** _ **expanding**_ **upon the story and the content. The main concern I have is either going off on a tangent that a majority of people wouldn't be interested in, and more characters aren't always a good thing-the story and cast can get over-saturated, and characters can either take screen time away from more important ones, or get so little time that it seems pointless to have them around. (There is one character I've been trying to decide on including, and I just can't make up my mind.)**

 **To simplify:**

 **Would you like to see movie villains worked in?**

 **Do you want me to expand upon character backstory at all?**

 **Would you be ok with widening the cast even further?**

 **Or:**

 **Is my upload time so slow already that I should really just focus on the main story and stop getting distracted?**

 **Update: I don't mean working in movie *plots*, I mean working in movie *characters*. Not all of them, and almost certainly not Turles-just saying, I know he seems like an obvious choice, but honestly if he ever met the cast, Raditz would kill him outright. No way he's dealing with _three_ of them.**

 **Anyway, there's a specific mini-arc involving a movie villain I've been thinking about, but it wouldn't contain any of the parts of the villain's film, just the villain himself. It's not vital to the story, so I wanted to see if people would be curious about it.**

 **Also on that note, I'm not counting Beerus and Whis in this, if anyone was wondering. I consider BoG and Resurrection F as canon, so they'd show up organically in the DBZ-DB Super timeline. Which, again wouldn't be part of this main story.**

 **If you have thoughts you want to share, I'd prefer if you pm me. And I'm not asking** _ **who**_ **to incorporate into the story-just** _ **if**_ **I should. I know some people want to encourage me to do whatever I want, or whatever is best for the story, but I've spent a lot of time thinking about this. (Far more time than, well...writing...it…) It's not the content of the story, the writing of the characters, or the history of them that's the issue. It's whether enough people are actually interested in it, and if it's worth writing. And I can't really answer that question myself.**

 **Lastly, and more relevant to the story, I thought I'd go through a brief power-ranking of everyone in the story. Don't know if I'll do this again, and if I do, it won't include actual power levels, since, you know, they very specifically become meaningless after Namek.**

 **Ranking** (Weakest to Strongest)

 **Bulma** -6

 **Chi-Chi** -30

 **Master Roshi** -180

 **Yajirobe** / **Chiaotzu** -Same as this point in canon. (They were not given actual levels-probably between 800-1000)

 **Saibamen** -1100

 **Yamcha** -2300

 **Krillin** -2650

 **Tien** -2950

 **Gohan** -3100

 **Piccolo** -4000

 **Nappa** -8000

 **Goku/Kakarot** -11000

 **Raditz** -14000

 **Vegeta** -22000

 **Bardock** -28000

 **Notes:**

Bulma has been able to make normal clothes out of similar materials used in the making of Earth's armor suits. While not as strong as the armor suits, it is strong enough to absorb a great deal of impact, including gunfire. She also carries around a couple of Saibamen, whose top priority is programmed to be her safety.

Chi-Chi actually has the ability to fly, but prefers to use the Nimbus. She never bothered to train her Ki control past the ability of flight.

Even though he has access to more power than the Z-Fighters, Gohan would still probably lose a fight to any of them, given his relative inexperience.

Despite being notably weaker than Nappa at the time of their fight, Piccolo was able to keep up with the Saiyan due to his Namekian abilities. (Similar to the strength difference in the Canon fight between him and 17.)

Raditz is only stronger than his brother due to his Zenkai boost.

All Saiyans save Gohan and Nappa still have access to their Oozaru transformation. (They still have their tails.)

 **Equipment** :

 **Earthling Armor** : Bulma insists on referring to this armor as such, as it's her design. With the years she's had to develop it, Bulma has been able to strengthen the armor, able to absorb 30% more physical force than Freeza's army's standard, while maintaining its flexibility. It has no additional protections against Ki. Each armor resembles Bardock's model, lacking shoulder pads. They have personalized color schemes, and a stylized image of the Earth on the breastplate, as well as a personal symbol on the back. Bulma pitched a picture of an Oozaru head for the Saiyans, and while Goku was all for it, Bardock and Raditz soundly rejected it.

 **Scouters** : Bulma's version of the scouter appears the same as the Freeza forces, and can perform the same function-isolating individual powers and ranking them on a numerical scale-but have a number of improvements. Bulma's models have a built-in safety if power rises faster than the machine can calculate, shutting off instead of overheating and exploding. They also come with night-vision (though admittedly only for one eye), heat sensing, the ability to map areas, and to plot a course through mapped areas, or toward objects or power-levels of interest.

 **Ships** : While the Gravity Machines in Capsule Corp's new line of ships can only go up to 100x Earth's normal gravity, the ships themselves are more spacious, with rooms sealed off from the gravity machine, so that while one person trains in intense gravity another can rest in normal gravity. (This is accomplished by multiple, smaller gravity machines counteracting the main one.) They're also faster, and somewhat more resistant to damage.


	14. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Namek**

"Could you stop pacing? If you wear away much more ground there won't be anything left of my planet."

She ignored him.

King Kai sighed.

"Have some tea." Kami offered him a cup. "It's soothing."

"Thank you Kami."

"Of course, sir-cover your cup!" They both hunched over, shielding their drinks from the wind pressure traveling around the planet.

They waited a few seconds, before returning to normal.

"Does he have to keep doing that?" King Kai asked.

"No, but I think he's enjoying it," Kami said, glaring down at the planet. "...I don't _care_ if you're training, you're doing this on purpose. Just admit it! ...I know I can't stop you-honestly, you are acting like a child!"

"Oh, right, Namekian hearing," King Kai said. "Though he could just shout if he wanted to be heard."

"That would hurt both of our ears," Kami said, drinking. King Kai mirrored him when Gine exploded.

" _WHY_ are you so _CALM!?_ " King Kai jumped and the tea spilled all over him.

"Aah! Hot hot hot!" Gregory and Bubbles ran over, jumping around him and offering help. Kami just closed his eyes and sighed.

When the noise had died down, King Kai turned to look at the Saiyan, wiping himself off with a towel Bubbles had grabbed.

"What was that?"

"I just can't take this! Why aren't we warning them? You said Freeza had scouts on the planet!"

"If we tell them, they won't go," Kami said calmly, sipping his tea.

"And is that a bad thing? Besides, Bardock would still go!"

"And he would likely bring his sons with him, yes. But from what you've said, and what Bardock told me, we need all of them to be there. And there is simply no way Gohan would go if they knew what was on the planet."

"I _know_ that! That's _why_ I'm mad!" She wrapped her arms around herself. "It's bad enough if Bardock and the boys have to walk into danger like this. Why do they have to take Gohan?"

"I don't know," Kami said calmly, and Gine spun on him. Before she could talk, King Kai spoke.

"That's just the point Gine. We don't know why it matters that Gohan be there. We don't know if it _does_ matter that Gohan be there. But you saw his vision about the fight with Nappa, and we agreed to encourage him to fight, and that saved a lot of lives."

"It didn't save mine," Piccolo growled, walking up to them.

"Ours," Kami said lightly. "And with the before and after visions Gohan saw about Namek, your actions were completely unchanged. So it's likely we would've died anyway." Kami shifted to look at Gine. "We don't know how things will change if we alter the course of time further. And don't forget, doing so only punishes Bardock more."

Gine looked down at the ground. "I know." She whispered.

"Look, time isn't my expertise," King Kai said, walking over to her. "But I'm pretty sure the only reason Gohan has been dodging these consequences is because of you. It's a loophole-you're the one encouraging the changes, not the visions. That's why we've been so subtle about it."

Gine sighed and moved to sit down. She was dressed in a simple, white robe that she smoothed out before sitting. Kami smiled and poured another cup of tea while Piccolo approached King Kai.

"I'm ready for the next step."

"N-now there, that's for me to-Hey! Put me down!" The Kai waved his arms futily as Piccolo carried him off to the other side of the small planet.

"I don't envy him," Kami said, watching them go.

"It's alright. He complains, but he likes the company."

"How long have you been here?"

"I got my body back a little after Bardock landed on Earth. I'm told someone put in a good word for me."

Kami smiled. "I confess, I wasn't convinced of Bardock's motives even after Goku arrived at the Lookout. Over time, he let his guard down, and I...pried. I'm not proud of it, but the thoughts and memories about you were...encouraging. I know that might sound strange, but for Bardock to care so deeply about a woman like yourself gave me hope that perhaps he might turn out better. So yes, I put in a word to King Yemma and some of his advisors." He looked down at his tea and sighed, pushing it away from him. "I wish I had thought on those feelings of his more. None of us might be here now if I had. What fools we were."

Gine shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't understand how these things happen. A few centuries should give a being like myself perspective, wisdom. And yet we both so rashly came to such opposite conclusions that we never even talked about."

She looked away.

"You're normally Bardock's one blind-spot when it comes to his stubbornness. You think he would've pushed harder, tried to find a loophole. If nothing else, you think he would have brought it up more than once."

She drained her cup of tea and set it down rather loudly.

"Would you just admit you did it already? You're worse at acting than your husband. And trust me, that's saying rather a lot."

Gine wouldn't meet his eyes, red-faced.

"I didn't-I didn't expect him to react so strongly, or to leave everyone to fight by themselves."

"But _why_? Why would you manipulate us like this?"

"Because Gohan is 5!" She snapped, abruptly defensive. "And he's having visions of a genocidal tyrant out to kill his entire family! I couldn't help him. Not if I was alive. I was...I was terrified that what's happening to Bardock would happen to him. That he'd make a misstep, change something too drastically, or… He's been having these visions his whole life. They just weren't strong, and he never remembered them." She turned pleading eyes on Kami. "He's my grandson. I didn't want him to be hurt. So yes, King Kai helped me. While Bardock was asleep, when you were distracted, we convinced you both that...the matter was done. That I was dead, and I would stay dead. A whisper in your ear, an image in your dream...and damn it, I would do it again." She looked at him, expression begging him to agree with her. "Wouldn't you? If you thought it was the only to save the ones you love?"

Kami reached over and rested his hand on hers.

"What I think," he said gently. "Is not always right. We convince ourselves we are correct, our beliefs are true, and our aims are just. When you refuse counsel, and reject advice, your intentions, however noble, can have dire consequences. We will never know if your actions were correct or not. We do not know what might have been different. But you have caused your family a great deal of pain over this. And if you cannot acknowledge that, you cannot truly ask for forgiveness."

Gine began to cry.

"I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry…"

Kami merely smiled.

"It is not I you'll need to apologize too."

"We're getting ready to land!" Yamcha called back from the pilot's seat as the gravity machine powered down. Tien didn't react, deep in meditation, and Krillin and Gohan walked over to one of the windows.

"It's so pretty…" Gohan said, hanging in the edge of the window so he could see. "It's wonder what it looks down there?"

"I guess we'll find out," Krillin said. "Come on, we should strap in for landing." Tien opened his eyes, letting out a deep breath before standing up and joining them.

"Bulma says we shouldn't feel a whole lot, but it's probably best to strap in anyway." They all took their seats, complying.

The landing went smoothly, but they remained seated as the machine went through a series of checks, differently colored lights winking on and off, until there a _ding_ , the straps released, and a robotic voice played over a speaker.

" _Atmosphere composition is compatible with human life. You are clear to disembark."_

"Bulma really had fun playing with spaceships," Yamcha said, pressing a button that causes the door to open.

"Don't see how that's a bad thing," Krillin said, leading the way out of the ship. "Hope nothing breaks though. Think we should've brought her along?"

"I wouldn't want to have to worry about her if anything goes wrong," Tien said, shielding his eyes as he adjusted to the natural light.

"What's gonna go wrong here? I mean, they're supposed to be a bunch of Kami's, not a bunch of Piccolo's. Besides, we have Bardock and Goku here," Yamcha pointed in the direction the other space pod had landed. "And they can handle anything, right Gohan?" He turned to look down, grinning. "...Gohan? Hey, what's wrong!?"

Everyone turned to look at Gohan, who looked absolutely terrified. He backed up slowly, bumping into Yamcha's legs and sinking to the ground.

Krillin dropped to one knee and shook the child gently. "Gohan? Hey, buddy, snap out of it!"

"Gohan!?" Krillin moved out of the way as Goku hurried over, Bardock close. Goku took Krillin's place, gently trying to coax Gohan to speech. It was Bardock's that caught the other's attention. He was white, and looked almost as afraid as his grandson.

"Bardock, what's going on?" Tien asked, as Krillin and Yamcha looked around.

The man didn't answer at first, and Goku looked up at him.

"Dad?" No one had even seen Bardock nervous, let alone the plain fear written all over his face.

"We're leaving." His voice came out harsh and commanding.

"What? Why!?" Goku stood up, alarmed, while everyone turned in surprise.

"I said we're leaving! Grab Gohan, get on the ship, and go back!"

"No!" Goku stood up, on eye level with his father, looking determined. Everyone else fell silent, watching as Bardock looked at his son in something like shock.

"What? Kakarot, I said-"

"I heard what you said! And I don't care! Raditz isn't on the planet yet, and we can't just abandon him! Or Piccolo!"

"You don't understand-"

"Then make me!" Goku was getting angry. "I am so tired of you not explaining yourself! Of course I won't understand if you won't tell me anything! What is scaring you? Why does Gohan seem to know and none of the rest of us do!?"

Gohan tugged lightly on his father's pants, staring up at the two of them. Bardock remained silent, watching as Goku bent down to pick his son up. Gohan hid his face in his father's shoulder.

" _What_ is it?" Goku asked, his voice softer, pleading.

Bardock looked away. "Freeza is...here. Or...he will be. And we can't win against him."

"So you want to leave the Dragon Balls to him? The Namekians to him?" Goku didn't seem to question his father's assertion.

"No! I just-" He broke off, closing his eyes and groaning. "So that's it," He muttered, barely audible to the others. "That's why."

"Bardock?" Tien stepped. "What are you talking about?"

The older Saiyan was silent for a long moment, before turning to address them.

"Freeza has scouts on or around the planet. It won't be long before they discover us, if they haven't already, and when they do...odds are, Freeza will come here himself."

"How do you-" Yamcha began, but Bardock cut him off.

"Right now, with all our training, we can probably go toe-to-toe with his army, but that's not gonna matter if we come to the tyrant himself. We need to hurry up and get off this planet as fast as we can. Hide the ship's, conceal your energy, and protect the Namekians. Remember, if there are Dragon Balls, that means they're tied to one of the Namekians life. If that Namekian dies, then we're done for."

Tien nodded his understanding, and Yamcha frowned.

"We're splitting up."

Bardock nodded. "The three of you work well enough together. Tien's in charge." He turned to Goku. "You two will stay with me until we meet up with Raditz. Then you're both with him, and _he's_ in charge. I have the most experience dealing with Freeza's forces, so I'll keep pressure off of you all."

"What about the other two?" They all turned to stare at Gohan, who still looked frightened.

"You think they'll be here?" Bardock asked softly, and Gohan nodded.

Goku looked back and forth between the two of them on confusion, but shrugged slightly, still holding Gohan.

"I mean, Raditz could've persuaded them."

Bardock hesitated slightly. "If they do come, I'll keep an eye on them. I doubt they'll have an issue going after Freeza's men either."

"Ok, but why put Tien and _Raditz_ in charge?" Yamcha asked.

"Because I trust them not to hesitate. I can't say the same about the rest of you. Contact me if you find a Dragon Ball, and try to explain to the Namekians what's going on. It might be a better idea to get everyone off planet and wait a year before we resurrect anyone. I don't know how much time we have." Bardock flew off without looking back.

Goku glanced over at the others in concern.

"Be careful."

"Don't worry about us," Tien said, grinning slightly.

"Going unnoticed is one of our many talents," Krillin said, grinning.

Goku smiled back, releasing Gohan, and the two flew off after Bardock. He had already shrunk the ship when they landed in the clearing.

"Is Freeza...really that strong?" He couldn't help but let the fear show. He didn't like the feeling of being trapped, especially with Gohan along.

His father sighed, and looked up at the sky.

"We've gotten a lot stronger. Even just on the way here, with the improved machines, your growth was amazing."

"I don't...I _can't_ believe-"

"Kakarot." Dad walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, meeting his eyes. "Do you remember one of the first things I ever told you? Back up on the Lookout?"

Goku wasn't sure what he meant, and shook his head.

"I said you were my son. I told you that one day, you would be as strong as me. That you would be stronger."

"But I'm-"

"At least," Bardock said, his tone gentle, "as strong as me. Probably stronger than your brother, boost or no. You can do it."

" _Why?_ Why do you think that? It's not something recent, is it? You've been training me for this since we first met. It feels like-like this has been coming for a long time. I'm just a Saiyan, like you, and Raditz and Vegeta and Nappa. Why should I do any better?"

His father paused for a moment.

"I've had...a lot of time to think about that. About why I feel that way. Maybe...maybe Kakarot can't beat Freeza." His father turned and looked him hard in the eye. "But maybe Son Goku can."

He actually recoiled a little in shock, and his father just chuckled.

"Don't get used to hearing it, mind you." He walked past him, over the edge of the small hill they were on, looking at the water. "But it's the only thing I can think of. What sets you apart from the rest of us. I've been trying to make you into someone you aren't, and at your core well...you aren't Kakarot, are you?" There was something very sad in his father's voice. "You don't think of yourself as a Saiyan. It's not the name you call yourself. I shouldn't try and change that."

"Dad…"

He turned back, smiling and walking over.

"Yeah. I am, aren't I?" He punched Goku lightly on the shoulder. "But enough of this. We have work to do."

Gine had quietly retreated into King Kai's house after Bardock and Goku had finished talking, leaving the others to discuss.

Piccolo had no interest in conversation, and was deep in meditation while Kami and King Kai discussed what Bardock had said.

"A full circle? Do you think it'll work?" Kami asked.

"I don't know," King Kai answered. "All Bardock's original vision showed was Goku standing against Freeza. We don't even know if he was meant to win then, let alone now. I don't understand what he's doing."

"From what I can see, Bardock feels that the final showdown with Freeza is fast approaching, and that their best chance at victory is to push as close to the original timeline possible."

"You think they'll would've ended up at Namek as this time anyway?" King Kai asked, and Kami nodded. "Which means Goku was supposed to be ready to face Freeza now anyway." The God let out a sigh of frustration. "But we don't know how strong he was supposed to be by now!"

"Does it really matter? It's hard to imagine any individual taking on Freeza at this point. It will undoubtedly take a group effort."

"Exactly." They turned to see Gine emerge from the house, tightening the straps on her Saiyan armor.

Piccolo opened his eyes, looking at her.

"You don't seriously think you can help?" There was a derisive note in his voice that Kami frowned at. Gine, on the other hand just smiled and walked over to Piccolo.

"Oh, no. Even if I was strong enough to help, the boys would be far too distracted trying to look after me. Stand up, Piccolo."

The Namekian compiled, looking slightly wary.

"King Kai can't instruct and spar with you at the same time. You need to learn this technique, and you need to be able to use it."

"Gine," King Kai walked over, frowning. "You know he can't learn the Genkidama."

"With all luck, he won't need it," She said.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I might as well spar with Kami," Piccolo said arrogantly. "You're a 5th my strength at _best_."

Gine arched an eyebrow at him. "I haven't been training as intensely as you, that's for sure. But I haven't been sitting on my hands either." Piccolo snorted, and King Kai surreptitiously backed up. "You say I'm a 5th your strength? I can work with that."

"What do you-"

"Kaioken x5!"

"Kaio-what?"

Gine punch landed firmly in Piccolo's gut, sending him flying. The gravity of the planet barely held him from flying off entirely, as he was pulled to the ground, leaving a long trail of dirt.

The red aura that had briefly flared around the female Saiyan dissipated and she sank to the ground, taking deep breaths as Piccolo staggered back towards them, looking more shocked than angry.

"I doubt I could manage that high of a Kaioken in a loving body," She said, a little shakily. "And estimating me at a 5th of your strength was very generous. Still, you see the merit of the technique."

Piccolo nodded as Kami walked over, offering Gine a hand up, which she accepted.

"Beating him up seems to be something of a family activity." He glanced over at his other half. "I knew I liked you all."

Gine laughed before Piccolo could retort.

"Bardock _has_ been a terrible influence on you!"

"On us all, good lady. On us all."

King Kai smothered his laughter as he walked over to Piccolo.

"We'll go over how to do the technique while Gine rests. Then she'll help us with some practical training. And don't forget: We're on a tight schedule, and you'll have to pick this up fast."

Piccolo sighed to himself, but nodded, standing up straight.

He refused to stay behind any longer.

"Do you suppose they turned around and forgot to tell us?" Nappa asked.

The ship was stationary, just out of sensor range watching Freeza's ship slowly orbit the planet.

"I doubt it," Raditz said, looking out of one of the windows. "We were a full day behind. Bardock isn't particularly forgetful, and there's no sign of a battle either." The orbiting ship was the only object the sensors picked up. There was no sign of debris, metal or otherwise.

"Maybe they didn't say anything on purpose. They could be using us as bait." Vegeta's tone was cold.

"Do _you_ even believe that?" Raditz asked, bored.

"No, but only because your father's turned into a sentimental sack of garbage."

"Downright poetic, my prince," Nappa said through a yawn. "Are we blowing it up or not?"

 _BOOM_

"Wh-what was that!?"

"We're under attack!"

"This race isn't supposed to have space-faring capabilities!"

 _BOOM_

"They're in the landing bay!"

"Everyone, attack! Kill them!"

"Oh _no_ , they have _guns_."

"Well clearly we should just surrender."

"Shut up and kill them already."

"You need to learn to relax, boss."

One of the soldiers stopped firing as he heard them talk. The landing pad had been lit up by the continual gunfire of the two dozen soldiers that had hurried down to the docking bay. They hadn't so much as scuffed the intruder's armor.

"...and I'm telling _you_ that these peons aren't worth my time. That's why I have you two along in the first place."

The bald one sighed, as he began to raise a hand.

"Whatever, boss."

The room was dark when they entered, the only lights from the stars outside of the window.

They both kneeled, heads bowed, waiting for their lord to speak.

"Do you know why I've summoned you?"

"No, my Lord."

"What about you Dodoria? Any ideas?"

"None, Lord Freeza."

"I've been looking over a rather interesting collection of reports. You two are aware that Vegeta disappeared nearly a year ago, are you not?"

"Yes, we are."

"A disappearance presumably precipitated by the disappearance of one of the other Saiyans. Raditz."

Dodoria swallowed nervously.

"A station reported receiving all 3 Saiyans in varying conditions. All 3 were notably injured. That was the last report that station has or will ever send."

"They...went rogue, my Lord?"

"Oh yes, but let me finish Zarbon. You see, around the time the healing station was destroyed, in such a short amount of time that there was no distress message or camera transmissions sent. Does that sound familiar?"

"Y-yes, Lord Freeza."

"Very good, Dodoria. Now we do know that a ship departed the station Vegeta was at. And that 5 days later, a scouting ship was destroyed at the planet known as Namek. They were looking into some strange rumors. Our ships don't travel quite that fast. What do you think that means, Zarbon?"

"That they either have gotten a faster ship or have allies, my Lord."

"Correct."

"I-I'll go! I'll go right now, Lord Freeza!" Dodoria jumped to his feet. "I'll deal with those stupid monkeys!"

"Oh, you'll certainly try. But _we_ will be going this time. I am tired of these nuisances. I will see the end of these monkeys if I must do it myself."

"I can deal with them myself!"

"Oh, you'll get your chance." Freeza's voice was suddenly cold. "When we arrive at the planet, you'll get 24 hours before I come down to the planet personally. If you can't manage to kill any of them by that time, then you'd best hope they kill you. Because I will _not_ tolerate failure again. Now go prepare for our trip."

"Yes, Lord Freeza!"

The door opened and closed, Dodoria taking off at a run.

"Was there something else, Lord Freeza?"

"Yes. You see, Zarbon, I am _quite_ fed up with these monkeys. If Dodoria fails me, as I think he likely will, the responsibility moves up to you. I have already contacted the Ginyu force. You will get an additional 24 hours after Dodoria's deadline. I will not tolerate failure. I suggest you help Dodoria, for your own interests."

Zarbon gulped.

"I do not care what it takes. The Saiyan race will _end_. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Lord Freeza."

"Then go prepare the soldiers."

The door opened and closed again, leaving Freeza in the dark, alone with his reflection.

 _I acknowledge you, monkey. Though you are but a Saiyan, you are more of an enemy to me than any I have ever encountered. Killing and coercing my men, destroying my bases, and above all, surviving all this time, surviving all that I have thrown at you. But that is done._

 _You will not survive me._

 _Prepare yourself, Bardock. For your end fast approaches._

 **Surprise Gine!**

 **This was another shorter/transitional chapter, mostly because I didn't want to start events I wouldn't be able to finish. I thought about drawing out the fight with Vegeta and Co, but honestly, the whole point is normal soldiers can't hurt them. Felt like a waste of time.**

 _ **But**_ **I do have more for anyone interested.**

 **I decided, since I knew not everyone was interested in all the side stories/history/world-building stuff, to put them all into a separate story, which should be up now. For now it's just titled 'Bardock's Future: Shorts'**

 **It's also where I'll be posting anymore discussion type chapters like I did at the end of Chapter 11. This way I won't have to bug anyone who's only interested in the main story.**

 **Thanks for Reading!**


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